3wt7X
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 704
Times fished:
I fished various times throughout the day, but generally speaking from 0700 am to 0830 am, there was a nice emergence of the drake duns. Then they trickled off in waves throughout the day on both days.
Weather:
Interesting weather pattern for late May. It was 67 degrees and humid when I arrived on Thursday evening. Friday was low 60's, mostly cloudy, with a few showers and wind gusts. I left Saturday morning and it was the most pleasant that it felt, with partly to mostly cloudy conditions and little to no wind.
Hatches:
Drake Duns both male and female. The males were heavier on Thursday and the females were heavier Friday and Saturday morning, but they were both emerging steadily throughout the trip. I saw no coffins on Thursday where I was fishing, and a moderate coffin fly spinner fall on Friday. Lots of sulphers, big orange ones size 14, and small yellow ones size 18. Cream cahills size 12-14. Those were the mainstays, but there was other stuff flying around.
Water:
It was pushing 650 cfs and greenish brown when I arrived on Thursday. The water was cold that day, though I did not get an actual temp. It was around 550-600 cfs all day yesterday, with much better color (that green we all love). It was dropping fast and clearing when I left this morning.
Results:
After not fishing the Drakes through my first ten years of fly fishing, I have now fished them for three consecutive years and lord willing, I will keep the streak alive again next year. The experience of the drakes in pretty amazing. It is what you picture fly fishing as, before you actually learn the reality of the tough days and the learning curve that comes along with it. That's not saying the drakes is an easy hatch to fish, in fact, it is still one of the tougher ones for me. For instance, Thursday, when I arrive, I approach the water with perfect conditions. Dark clouds, drakes and sulphers steadily coming down with violent rises. I rotate through about 8 different drake patterns with no results, I rotate through 4 different sulpher patterns with nothing, and it is not until I drop a sulpher half and half soft hackle that I take a fish. I took a couple more on a rusty spinner before dark and I took a half hour rest. I caught one more fish that evening, and it was a special one. Standing in pitch black near the tail of a slow run, I begin to hear hard slurps. I had cut my leader back to about 6 foot, and put on one of the giant drake patterns that come from that fly shop in Weikert. About five casts in, I lift the sound of the rise and feel a heavy fish. She thrashes once in front of me and takes off towards the Susky. Luckily, I held on and made it to the slow water on the banks. The 3X helped as well. A fat 19 inch female brown was the result, my biggest dry fly brown from Penns!!! (bad pic, but great memory)
Day two, in the late morning, lot of wind and minimal rises, then the wind starts pushing the duns into the water from the trees, almost like a wind induced spinner fall and fish start rising everywhere. Once again, I rotated through several patterns and finally found a low riding parachute that did the trick. That was the best numbers day I have had on the drake patterns at about 10 fish. That evening there were a good number of coffins, but not a blizzard, with the wind, rises were too spotting to target a single fish. That was a frustrating couple hours of cold fishing literally and figuratively. This morning saw a decent emergence and I headed down the road.
I fished various times throughout the day, but generally speaking from 0700 am to 0830 am, there was a nice emergence of the drake duns. Then they trickled off in waves throughout the day on both days.
Weather:
Interesting weather pattern for late May. It was 67 degrees and humid when I arrived on Thursday evening. Friday was low 60's, mostly cloudy, with a few showers and wind gusts. I left Saturday morning and it was the most pleasant that it felt, with partly to mostly cloudy conditions and little to no wind.
Hatches:
Drake Duns both male and female. The males were heavier on Thursday and the females were heavier Friday and Saturday morning, but they were both emerging steadily throughout the trip. I saw no coffins on Thursday where I was fishing, and a moderate coffin fly spinner fall on Friday. Lots of sulphers, big orange ones size 14, and small yellow ones size 18. Cream cahills size 12-14. Those were the mainstays, but there was other stuff flying around.
Water:
It was pushing 650 cfs and greenish brown when I arrived on Thursday. The water was cold that day, though I did not get an actual temp. It was around 550-600 cfs all day yesterday, with much better color (that green we all love). It was dropping fast and clearing when I left this morning.
Results:
After not fishing the Drakes through my first ten years of fly fishing, I have now fished them for three consecutive years and lord willing, I will keep the streak alive again next year. The experience of the drakes in pretty amazing. It is what you picture fly fishing as, before you actually learn the reality of the tough days and the learning curve that comes along with it. That's not saying the drakes is an easy hatch to fish, in fact, it is still one of the tougher ones for me. For instance, Thursday, when I arrive, I approach the water with perfect conditions. Dark clouds, drakes and sulphers steadily coming down with violent rises. I rotate through about 8 different drake patterns with no results, I rotate through 4 different sulpher patterns with nothing, and it is not until I drop a sulpher half and half soft hackle that I take a fish. I took a couple more on a rusty spinner before dark and I took a half hour rest. I caught one more fish that evening, and it was a special one. Standing in pitch black near the tail of a slow run, I begin to hear hard slurps. I had cut my leader back to about 6 foot, and put on one of the giant drake patterns that come from that fly shop in Weikert. About five casts in, I lift the sound of the rise and feel a heavy fish. She thrashes once in front of me and takes off towards the Susky. Luckily, I held on and made it to the slow water on the banks. The 3X helped as well. A fat 19 inch female brown was the result, my biggest dry fly brown from Penns!!! (bad pic, but great memory)
Day two, in the late morning, lot of wind and minimal rises, then the wind starts pushing the duns into the water from the trees, almost like a wind induced spinner fall and fish start rising everywhere. Once again, I rotated through several patterns and finally found a low riding parachute that did the trick. That was the best numbers day I have had on the drake patterns at about 10 fish. That evening there were a good number of coffins, but not a blizzard, with the wind, rises were too spotting to target a single fish. That was a frustrating couple hours of cold fishing literally and figuratively. This morning saw a decent emergence and I headed down the road.
