Summertime Blues???????????????????

  One of the greatest parts of being a guide and being affiliated with the Drift Fly Shop is getting the privilege of answering questions as an “expert” and “knower of all things in the river”. One of the toughest parts of being a guide and affiliated with the Drift Fly shop is having people ask questions of me and always being expected to give “expert” advice because I should be the “knower of all things about the river”.   Both in the shop and while guiding we get so many questions as to what is going on at the moment and when things are going to change. We try to give all the correct answers but in reality we are only guessing since we have never seen conditions like what we have experienced this summer.                                                                          

   I am writing this blog trying to talk about some of the changes I have observed over the last week or so. My favorite time to be on the water is when the BWO’s are hatching and I can watch fish move into feeding lanes and go to town. Watching the whites of the mouths as they open and shut rates at about an eight on the turn on meter, and yes, Cat still rates at a ten. May, June and even the first week of July all seemed to be awesome BWO days. I have been stuck working days as of late so my time on the water has been after 4:00 and the last few times out I have seen less and less BWO’s. Last night while fishing, the Who's "aint no cure for the summertime blues" kept running through my head. It was the first time since February that I was not worn out from hooking and fighting fish. I was out for about three hours and only saw one small trico that landed on me just as I was heading out, I saw a spattering of caddis but nothing to really get the fish excited. Hooked several but only landed two smaller fish. I talked to Alex, Cody and Scooter and they have told me that they are still seeing hatches early in the day but not at the same rate they were at just a few weeks ago.

  So the question is, is it still worth it to go fishing? Absolutely!!!! But it may just be time to change up some of the tactics. Midges are a year around food source so try to make your last fly very small. If you have been out as of late you probably have noticed all of the tiny baitfish schooling up on the sides of the river. This would be a great time to have Alex or Cody teach you the finer side of streamer fishing. Over the weekend they hooked several fish over 20 inches on streamers. If you can make it out early in the day, make sure you have a plethora of trico patterns, the fish do seem to key in on certain things during trico hatches(does not ever seem to be the same thing) hence the variety. Try some of the Froggs Fanny or the Doc’s dry dust powder to bring the emergers into the correct feeding zone and give it the extra pizzazz for the picky fish. And lastly, remember that we are addicted to this sport because it is fun, try to keep it that way, even if you are not hooking up on every cast, you could be stuck at work…..The Who was wrong, there is a cure for the summertime blues, get out and enjoy As always, I thank you for reading and hope you find this blog to be useful and if not hopefully at least amusing..Connell

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