Sunday, April 3, 2011

Spring Hatches Arrive In Force

Are you weary of nymph fishing after the long winter and late spring? Then get yourself to the mountains soon because the dry fly fishing is getting really exciting and fishing on top will only continue to improve as we get further into April and May!

Right now, we've got Quill Gordons popping off in big numbers on all the tributaries of the French Broad, especially the East Fork, West Fork and North Fork. During a guide trip yesterday, fish were coming off the bottom in 7 feet of water to eat emerging Quill Gordons on the surface! Quite a spectacle after our long, cold winter. There have been hundreds of little black caddis covering the sun-warmed boulders along our private waters almost every morning for the last two weeks, and they've been all over the Davidson, too. Any well-presented black pupa (our go-to imitation has been a #18 gray Deep Sparkle Pupa) has produced lots of strikes in the mornings, then we're switching over to #12-#14 Hare's Ears and Sheepflies around noon as the Quill Gordons get active. By 1 p.m., the fish are looking up and we're catching them on a variety of patterns: Mr. Rapidan parachutes, #12 Adams parachutes and Catskill-style Quill Gordon dries. Drop a Hare's Ear off the back if the surface action is slow - you'll eventually snip it off to avoid the inevitable tangles/wraps once things warm up and the duns start popping. All our local Delayed Harvest waters will receive another stocking of fish this week, so the fishing on the East Fork, Little River, Tuckaseegee and North Mills will continue to rock. The East Fork was tougher to fish over the last few weeks because it holds water so well and all the rain we got in March kept it cookin'. But with enough shot and the right drift, you could catch fish at will. Lots of smaller brook trout, with the odd holdover brown and numerous cookie-cutter rainbows. Meanwhile, the Davidson has been on fire thanks to all the rain we've gotten. I did two trips over there last week and it seemed like the fish were on steroids - even the 10-inchers fought like crazy, pulling drag and catching air. One of my guys broke off a 22-inch-plus brown within the first hour of fishing, but we landed a bunch and they all looked chunky and well-fed. Midge pupa in gray, brown and black did the trick, along with blue-winged emergers when they started coming off around 1 p.m. I haven't caught a Hendrickson hatch on the Davidson (which is the best E. subvaria water around these parts) but I've seen a few spinners, so I know they're coming off somewhere. Get ready for the March browns to make an appearance soon, as temperatures are forecast to climb back into the 70s by late this week. If you're in the market for a new dry fly rod, every rod in the shop is now 25 percent off for the next few weeks. That means that Wright & McGill 3- or 4-weight you've been coveting is just $165! Come cast one and check out these premium features not usually found on a stick in this price range: Portugese cork grips, titanium guides, external ferrules, with a leather-bound case and a lifetime warranty. We also have two Scott A3s on sale: a 9-foot 6 wt. that would make any smallie fisherman ecstatic and a 9 ft. 8 wt. that would be great for Charleston or NOLA redfish. They're a steal at $221 and $251, respectively. Tight lines, Than

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Mikey likes it!

Mikey likes it!
Even photographers occasionally get to fish, as Michael Justus proved with this scrappy rainbow