Youghiogheny River, Fayette, 5/26/2007

[JackM]

Had chores today, but got out for a brief spell from 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM. When I arrived, there were many bugs on the water and in the air. It was probably in the upper 70's, calm and overcast. The confluence guage read 901 cfs. I saw tiny black midges all over the water, small light caddis (16), small dark caddis (16), large dark caddis (14), Sulfur, Cahill and large brown stonefly (10-8), yellow colors showing on belly. Fortunately, I had a few stimulators left from the Smokies, one of which seemed a good match. The stoneflies were floating down the stream with wings folded, just walking on the surface a bit. I only saw a few random rises and I chased them on foot, but they'd rise somewhere else when I got in position. Finally, I got a take I wasn't expecting and had a nice fish on for 5-10 seconds, but it shook loose. So, I ended up skunked, but was glad I got out because now I can document the hatches for future reference. If I get my work done early tomorrow, I'll be back.

 

[JackM]

Didn't get back until Monday. Where did the hatches go? I saw a few sulfurs, one cahill, some BWO in 16-14, a handful of midges, but no stoneflies. I had to resort to a dropper to land a trout, though I missed a nice one on a stimulator I tied in size 10 hoping to imitate what I saw Saturday evening. There were also a few of the small tan caddis I mentioned. What a difference a couple days made-- I saw about 10 rises the whole 5 hours I was out compared to dozens in the short one and a half on Saturday. Go figure. The Confluence guage does reflect that the water temps were considerably cooler yesterday than Saturday. I guess that may explain the dramatic difference with hatches.