Busy week at Bear Creek Anglers. Two trips on Thursday, and one each on Friday and Saturday. We had a middle aged physician, a 68 year old lumber yard truck driver, a mother/son outing and a father/son outing. However, none sweeter than the father and son/daughter outing that I had for an hour tonight. The fishing this last week was generally pretty exceptional. Lots of fish on both nymphs, dries and soft hackles. Plenty of fish in the 13 inch or over category and a couple at 15”. The Narly Midge and Zebra Midge seemed to be the biggest recipient of the takes while nymphing. I suppose that if I had fished something other than those flies, I would have caught fish on those as well. I did fish some Griffith Gnats with no success, but did well on a #14 Caddis and soft hackles (both caddis and midges). Probably should be fishing a 16 Caddis, but I need the visibility of the larger one and we seem to do ok with it.
My kids and I hit the water at 7:30 tonight. On the way in, I ran in to three friends who said the activity slowed way down around 6:00 or 6:30. They were calling it a night. I was bummed as I was really hoping my daughter would have some success and get the ‘bug’. Then I realized that I rarely believe anything my friends tell me that is related to fishing. I tied on a Caddis and Partridge/Orange soft hackle to both of the rods and put the kids to work. An hour later, they had both hooked up a dozen times and landed a little less than half. A great night on the water.
Flies to Fish in the coming weeks:
Nymphs: Copper John, Prince, Pheasant Tail, Hare’s Ear (#18 to #12), Caddis (#16 to #14), Midge (#20 to #16). Buy some weight if you are nymphing!! No bigger than .2 grams most of the time, sometimes you might need 2 or 3 of them, but you need to be able to add in small increments.
Dries: Caddis (#16 to #14), Light Hendrickson (#16 to #14), March Brown (#12), Griffith’s Gnat (#20 to #18). I plan to try some Renegades soon to see how they work when the fish are on gnats.
Emergers: Any emerger/wet fly/soft hackle to match the dry flies above.
Sreamers/Buggers: Fish ‘em if you gotta, there’s always a Bugger Hatch.
Fishing report by Kent Kleckner of Bear Creek Anglers in Decorah, Iowa.