Rain! June 10th

Well we finally got some much needed precipitation.

I had assumed this was more widespread but listening to the news it sounded like places outside of our little bubble down here in the South West didn't get the cool down or moisture.

I am thankful but the rivers are brown!

The next couple days will probably be better for catching up at the house and tying some flies for when things get back into shape.

Water Conditions

As you can see things have kicked back up to a level that they normally would be for this time of year, but rivers should clean up rather quickly unless we get another rainfall.

  Bugs Observed

It is feeling very buggy out there right now: warm and uncommonly humid.

I went for a short walk along the river and found a collection of bugs more typical of early July than early June.

The sustained heat seems to have pushed the whole season ahead about a month in terms of water levels and temps and hatches.

Fishing should be pretty hot as the rivers drop and clear from Fridays rain.

Golden Stones have begun their emergence, as have Yellow Sallys, and Pale Morning Duns.  

Suggested Gear and Flies

Ideal Rod: 5wt or 6wt, 9 ft

Line/Leader: 5wt or 6wt line, 9ft 3X leader, 3X or 4X tippet

Flies: Nymphs- Golden Stone size 6-8, Pheasant Tail 10-14, Hairs Ear 6-14, Prince 8-12, Copper John 10-14

Dries- For Golden Stones: Stimulator yellow/orange 6-10, Madam X yellow 6-10, Fat Albert 6-10, Chubby Chernobyl gold/orange/tan 6-8

For PMDS- Compara Dun yellow 14/16, Parachute PMD 14/16, PMD emerger 14/16

For Yellow Sallys- Yellow Stimulator size 10-14, Yellow/Lime Trude 10-14, Elk Hair Caddis yellow 10-14

Streamers- Sparkle Minnow size 4, Olive and Black Woolly Bugger size 6

Fishing Tactics

It's early in the season and the fish have not seen much fishing pressure so they should be less wary and less selective.

The recent warm weather has water temps up so trout are generally more active and willing to move to feed.

The trout are also seeing a massive change in the amount of food available to them because of the recent hatches which will also drive increased feeding.

All this is good news for the fly angler.

If I was rigging up at the truck before heading down to the river, I'd be tying on a Dry/Dropper rig.  

My recommendation would be to start with a 3X leader tied to 20 inches of 3X or 4X tippet to my first fly, which would likely be a Yellow Stimulator or a Yellow bodied Chubby Chernobyl.

To the bend of the top dry fly I would tie another 20 inches of 4X tippet and a size 8 beadhead Hare's Ear nymph.

This combo should imitate the emerging Golden Stones pretty well.

Cast this rig into the likely spots on current seams or into the slack pocket or eddy adjacent to fast water.  

Remember that your dry fly is an indicator, if it goes down set the hook!

Be ready to switch up patterns and rigs if you notice selective feeding behaviour from fish or group of fish.

This will probably present as a fish consistently rising in one spot or lane.

And that fish is likely feeding on smaller but more numerous bugs.

This situation should play out like this...

You've spotted a rise, nice! Then another, sweet! This is good.

Now you could just whip your oversize Chubby and nymph in there, and the trout might grab. It is early in the season after all and the fish are less selective right now.

But the trout might not grab and you might spook it, not good.

Better to take a minute or two to try to observe what that fish is feeding on.

You probably won't be able to see what the bug is. This is a good cue to switch to a smaller fly.

A quick way to do this is to clip off your nymph and tie on a smaller dry fly pattern behind your bigger pattern.

This is part of the reason to use a longer dropper tippet, to give your smaller dropper pattern some distance from the bigger top dry.

Yes, you can fish two dry flies at once!

Remember, your top dry is an indicator, so if it moves set the hook!

There are a few likely outcomes from doing this:

1. The trout grabs the Chubby, great!  

2. It eats the smaller dropper, even better!

3. The fish refuses both, Hmm......

Clip off the Chubby and start trying different patterns; this is fly fishing.

Or leave that fish and go find one that is less selective, this is early season after all, there's a trout around every corner.

Go prey on the easy to catch!

Thats all for this week!

Get out and explore the rivers.