Monday, May 12, 2014

West Branch Report

I spent a couple of hours on the waters between Walton and Delhi tonight and while there were definitely bugs out and about, there wasn't nearly the surface activity I expected. I netted a few Red Quill (male hendrickson) spinners and saw quite a lot of small dark dun caddis (Chimarra, I believe) and slightly larger greed caddis (apple?) out and about, but the fish seemed to be feeding elsewhere. Perhaps I arrived too late for the main feast. Even so, I did manage to hook up with a few small browns. I'm guessing the stocking truck came through recently because the fish I caught were in the 6-8" range and were pretty pale.

Once again, the dark dun CDC emerger was a killer, as was the Madison Guide Cripple in red quill coloring. While the CDC Emerger is deadly, it's tough to fish in that it's hard to see and a little fish slime pretty much trashes it. I fish it mostly as a dropper off of a larger, more visible fly (a Hendrickson or klinkhamer for example) unless the water is fairly calm. Last night it was my go-to for sight-casting to a rising trout. I stuck with the MGC for prospecting in the faster water since the parachute made it easier to track and it's far more durable.

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