Cahills, Caddis and Craneflies, Oh My!

You know the old saying: "April showers bring May flowers." Well, maybe we should change that hackneyed expression to, "April deluges bring May hatches," because that's exactly what has happened locally. We've gotten a lot of rain this spring, including a monster flood on April 16 that brought the French Broad ripping at over 4,000 cubic feet per second (it usually hovers around 250 cfs.) But the upside of all this water has been some incredible aquatic insect hatches and hopefully ample flows going into summer.

Almost every spring bug of significance has been popping off in the last week. We've seen solid hatches of March Browns for several weeks, though most of the fish were eating the emergers sub-surface (a #12 Soft-Hackle March Brown Emerger or Mercer's March Brown Trigger Nymph was the ticket.) Light Cahills have made an appearance on the Davidson and West Fork, along with the bigger sulphurs (E. invaria). Net-building caddis are popping in good numbers on warmer days, along with lots of yellow sallies. And creamy craneflies are buzzing around almost everywhere.

Dusk has been the best time to catch a good hatch of the sulphurs and Cahills, but the March Browns (as well as a few straggler Quill Gordons) are showing up mid-day. We also have seen some Gray Winged Yellow Quills (Epeorus vitreus) on the big D. Given all this, you really cannot do wrong by tying on a #14 cream or yellow-bodied parachute as your lead fly and a #16 rubber-legged Red Fox Squirrel Nymph dropper. Another killer fly recently has been a #16 green Translucent Pupa, which is sort of a LaFontainesque caddis emerger. Swing it down and across during a caddis hatch and hold on! A little shock loop under your line finger is a good idea to keep from breaking off the more aggressive takers.

Our private waters has been cranking since the storm, so the trips we have run up there have been heavy affairs, literally. Lots of split shot, ping pong ball-sized Thingamabobbers, and longer drifts have been the name of the game up there, until just recently. And yes, the fish have still been eating well. It's just been harder to land them in all that current and we haven't been able to fish several places because the wading is too difficult for most folks. As of today, though, the water has receded to a good fishable level and the timing couldn't be more perfect, with all the bugs we're seeing. As a result of the high water, we've been fishing the Davidson quite a bit over the last three weeks, and it's still producing lots of strikes for those willing to endure the crowds. Mac had a client land a giant brown this week that didn't acutally eat the fly, but instead engulfed a 10-inch rainbow and refused to spit it out!

Meanwhile, all our Delayed Harvest waters received their last stocking of spring this week, which means the fishing is about as good as it's going to get on the East Fork, North Mills, Little River and Tuck. The Tuck has been generating both forks pretty solidly, but if you're prepared to strip streamers all day, it's a great way to go. If that's not your bag, wild streams are in fine shape right now: Avery, Looking Glass, Cathey's, Courthouse and their ilk are producing lots of dry fly takes. Go to a bigger fly if the dinks and young-of-the-year rainbows get too annoying. A dark Thunderhead has been the fly du jour recently on small streams. It's a beautiful time to be on the water. All the foliage is bright and fresh, bugs are hatching and the wildflower displays are excellent. Come on up and let's go fishing!

Tight lines,
Than