Hatch Time

It is hatch time- or one of them anyway. It may be hot or warm, definitely not as hot summers past, but the caddis, myriad yellow mayflies, and little yellow stones are hatching. Fish feeding on top is what keeps us throwing sloppy nymph rigs the rest of the year.

I like fishing the Sulphurs, PMDs, and PEDs that we get this time of year. The fish below Pactola are picky, but fooling one of them on a size 16 dun or spinner pattern is an annual highlight. I need to dig into my entomology books and find out what genus these bugs are below Pactola. I keep calling them PMDs or whatever. I know it doesn't matter, but I am the guy who is supposed to know. There are several species hatching daily and they last for several weeks. I usually opt for a CDC dun with a pale yellow or tannish yellow body in sizes 16-20. The fish generally take this pattern, or at least they did last year.

Well, I will quit rambling about yellow mayflies. Get out there and enjoy these hatches. The yellow stones have been fun, tricos have started in town and on Spring creek, and the fish are starting to eat terrestrials. Don't miss out on some of the best opportunities of the season

The same fish?

Tony Rhodes, a guide for the shop, shot this photo one snowy day. He sent me an email after seeing the rapid creek rainbow post (see a couple posts back). This might be the same fish. It is much brighter colored here, and a bit more orange. Take a look at the photo from the previous post and take a close look at the dorsal fin. They have the same irregularity. Nice eye Tony.

Shop Tying Part 1

Not the best photo, but I thought I would put up a photo of one of my latest shop down time killers. This is a PMD emerger with a CDC parachute hackle. Better photos coming soon. PMD's hatches aren't too far away. I know I need to fill up my boxes with emergers and duns.

Rapid Creek Brown

Rapid Creek can make a pretty mean looking brown trout if it wants to. This photo hopefully illustrates that point. I found this on the camera tonight (these 2gb cards can hold a bunch of photos) and I don't know when it was caught or who caught it. It doesn't matter. This is a fine fish.

I couldn't post a rapid creek rainbow photo and not through in a brownie too.

Beautiful Basin Rainbow

This is a picture I had to post. It was taken earlier this spring down below Pactola. This fish was gorgeous. Not the biggest of the day, but it won out in terms of looks. I love the leopard spots offset by the golden olive of the body and the rose red stripe. I look forward to finding this fish again. Hopefully it will be in the same spot lazily sipping in baetis emergers. We shall see...

Return of Spring Creek

Just returned from a wet day of guiding on Spring Creek below Sheridan Lake. We had a great morning despite the downpour. A family of four from Chicago had their first ever fly fishing outing, and the trout were readily taking their (well guided) offerings.

Our clients used Red Fox Squirrel Nymphs, Barr's Tungteasers, and Bead Head Mini Leeches. These patterns worked quite well. Browns and rainbows were easily found in the pools and runs along the bridges on Sheridan Lake Road.

A few Blue Winged Olives were hatching but the fish didn't take to the top.

At any rate, it was great to see Spring Creek fishing so well. The recent drought impacted the stretch below Sheridan Lake severely. For now things are on the up and up. The fish are healthy and make a good pull on the end of the line.

I look forward to the trico hatches in a month or so, or the little yellow stoneflies in a week or two. It is awesome to have this stretch of stream back.

Back to the Mighty Mo'

We made it over to Pierre again on Sunday. Some of the boys floated from the afterbay of Oahe downstream for a few miles. Ryan and I shuttled them and fished from shore.

The smallmouth were on their spawning beds, the carp would eat but were fussy, and thankfully the white bass were hungry little devils. We caught tons of white bass. Eight or ten fish at a time would rush your streamer.What flies did we use for the mighty whities? It didn't seem to matter that much; clousers, brown wooly buggers, and crayfish all did the trick.

The carp would eat a rusty brown wooly bugger and the majority of the smallmouth hit large baitfish imitations like a Murdich's Minnow.
All in all it was a fantastic day on the water. I wish more fly rodders would take a break from trout and try some of the fantastic warmwater options our state has to offer.