Had some good fishing here last week on my days off, with my
girlfriend Mandy putting on a virtual clinic Wednesday 4/15, racking up trout
after trout on nymphs in front of a crowd, including a big brown landed and a
low 20" range 'Bow hooked & lost at the net, it was well over 4
pounds, grrr. Water temps have been ranging from upper 30's to upper 40's.
Riverton has been upper 30's in AM, and on sunny days getting into the low
40's. Down in the permanent TMA, morning temps have been low 40's, reaching as
high as upper 40's/low 50's on a sunny afternoon. Those who have found pods of
freshly stocked trout recently have racked up the biggest catches, but some
bigger holdovers are mixing in here & there. Fish a spot, but if it's not
producing, move on, don't linger. Lately the more water I cover lately, the
better I do. I might come up empty in 2-3 spots, and then bang fish in the 4th.
Nymphs & deeply/slowly fished streamers are the most reliable fish catchers
in the cooler waters of the early season, doubly so when flows are up. The dry
fly guys have been back at it when flows have been normal, and catching some
fish at moments (ideally look for days without much wind)- overall the dry fly
fishing has been slow lately though. This will change in the next couple weeks
as water warms and we start to get into the hatch cycle. The Winter Caddis (AM)
are waning but you may still see some, in the afternoons you should see Oives
(#16-18 Baetis Vagans), Midges (#20-28) & Early Black Stones (#12-16). With
the Caddis & Stonefly dries, try both dead-drifting them and also lightly
twitching them, Baetis & Midges should mostly be dead-drifted. Sometime in
late April we should see the first Hendricksons, they will probably be a little
late due to the brutally cold winter.
Subsurface, it's not too early to start fishing Hendrickson
nymphs, they get active and end up in the drift a good month before the hatch
begins, and Bruce Marino & Rich Strolis both tie us DEADLY nymps for this-
ask and we will point you toward them. Hendrickson nymphs catch me a lot of BIG
trout in April/May. A bigger #12-14 Pheasant Tail can also work well.
Hendrickson Nymph patterns can also pull double-duty as early season
stoneflies. #16 Olive nymphs imitating Baetis Vagans are also a good choice
now, they are just starting up. Early Black & Early Brown Stoneflies (sz
12-16), Pheasant Tails (sz 12-18), olive/green caddis larva (sz 8-16), cased
caddis larva (sz 8-16), midge larva/pupa (sz 16-20, especially in red),
attractor nymphs (sz 12-18 in Red Headed Stepchild, Copper Johns, blue
Lightning Bugs, Yellow Prince, Rainbow Warrior, and egg flies (sz 10-18) are
still a good choice (rainbows & suckers are both spring spawners in
March/April, contributing fish eggs to the drift), etc. Don't be afraid to fish
some some gaudier/flashy/attractor-type nymphs, the trout sometimes show a
preference for them, doubly true for recently stocked trout.
If you are fishing streamers, remember that a slower
presentation (swinging and/or slow stripping & twitching) matches up with
the slower trout metabolism due to cooler water temps- but as always, play with
your presentation and let the trout tell you how they prefer it, they may still
want a bit faster strip at moments. Try using a floating line and slowly
bouncing/hopping a weighted Fishskull Skulpin Bunny on the bottom- use a 0x-2x
tippet with this pattern & method, that fly is heavily front-weighted and
rides hook point up. If you are using unweighted or lightly weighted streamers,
use something to get them down- sinking line, sink-tip line, sinking leader, or
split shot. Slow & deep is typically the name of the game until water temps
get over 50 degrees and stay there (probably late April if you are downstream
of the Still River).
-Torrey