Let’s start with hoppers.
By now every trout in every river should be geared into taking big grasshoppers, as they have been around all summer and bungled their way into rivers.
That’s been partially true this year – until our recent heavy storms knocked them off, drowned them on land, and kept them out of the water. The fish have remained keyed on them – somewhat.
What they’re seeing now will more likely be a new wave of grasshoppers – young insects ranging from #14 and #12 imitations on up. If the trout you’re prospecting for don’t take that same big mouthful you’ve been throwing, try a smaller hopper. My favorite patterns for careful late-season hopper fishing are Dave Whitlock’s hopper and Schroeder’s Parachute Hopper. I carry both in sizes #8 and #10, and the Parachute Hopper in #12 and #14. The #14 is deadly in small streams.
It’s important, in low water conditions, to get the cast in, and let it fall gently. Let it settle just long enough for the rings from the fly’s plop on the water to dissipate, and then give it a gentle twitch – just enough to make another barely noticeable set of rings. Count two… three… four seconds, and twitch it again. When it drags give it another twitch and pause before lifting it off for another cast. Every now and then you’ll get a hit on that last pause – and set the hook on what was meant to be the back-cast.
Be prepared for tricos
Late summer aquatic insect hatches usually follow predictable patterns. This year, not so much.
The sudden rise in water level and dip in water temperature brought on by this summer’s full-on storms have thrown things off. In some places, those tiny little trico mayflies, the silvery-transparent winged black-bodied insects you see flying over the water first thing in the morning are about the only ones to weather the storm – and it might take them a day, but they’ll be there.
Typically they hatch at dusk and the females return to the water to lay eggs the following morning. Give them an overnight when they’re not being pelted by big raindrops and they’ll be back.
There may not be as many of them, but if there are enough to bring the fish up with any regulatory at all, your chances might be better than when the small black bugs blanket the water and your fly is just a fugitive from the law of averages, one among the many naturals floating down the water without getting hit.
Trico fishing is never easy, but if you do everything right, your chances are better when there isn’t an oversupply of those flies on the water.
Spot a working fish, get the cast in where you’ll get a good four-foot drift to the point of the take, and anticipate the rise so you’ll be on time with a sure but gentle upsweep of the rod tip – not an overstrike.
Be prepared to fish a long 6 ½ X or 7X tippet on an #18 or #20 (maybe 7 ½ or 8X and #22) fly, whatever is required. And don’t waste time trying to skimp – go fine enough right from the start to get the job done. Once hooked, you’d be surprised at how much strain a trout can put on a light tippet.
The window for tricos might be short, and I might be looking at a localized hatch, but I’d rather rig up for a decent chance at taking some decent fish than let an opportunity pass by.
Other hatches, wet flies and nymphs
The hecubas – or big fall drakes – were just beginning to show in a few places, and will inevitably be back with the cooler post-storm water temperatures as things stabilize.
As the weather continues to cool you’ll see more of them hatching mid-afternoon, mid-pool. They have to come from somewhere. A light olive Hare’s Ear or similar nymph, #8 or #10, fished on a long dropper below a dry big enough to float above it, might bring steady eats from late morning on.
Switch around – fish the usual #8 rubberlegs, #14 San Juans, Perdigons, Princes, and PT’s underneath – but don’t neglect to give something that resembles a hecuba nymph a shot.
And don’t neglect caddisflies. If you’re on the water late, you might get into a good hatch. From mid-afternoon on, a #14 green caddis nymph is always worth fishing.
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