Stoneflies Coming Soon!
The weather outside is warming and our long cold spring is drawing to an end. At least we hope the trend continues this way! This week we finally got above 70 degrees out and man did it feel good. With the warming weather the water temperature is rising as well and it’s only a matter of time before we see the first stoneflies crawling around our banks looking for love in all the wrong places. Hopefully those wrong places are the mouths of hungry trout waiting below the grass lines and tree branches ready to ambush.
River Conditions-
This last couple weeks has been a bit all over the place with the river conditions. We have seen a big spike in the flows coming out of the tributaries paired with a slight bump in flows out of the dam. This brought the river up to a little under 7000cfs. Luckily those flows only lasted a few days but definitely made the fishing a bit difficult for those who were out during the spike. The flows yesterday started to bump below the falls again, but are already leveling out at 5700cfs. The spring moodiness of the river is here, but the river is still very fishable at this time. Water temps have been slowly climbing, bringing us into that golden temperature range of 54-56 degrees that drives the first emergence of stoneflies. It’s only a matter of a week or so before we see the first big bugs crawling on the grass and me doing my happy dance on a grass hummock.
What’s Happening-
Over the last few weeks I’ve seen the typical cool spring weather bug activity with lots of mayflies on the cloudy drizzly days and early season caddis on the sunny days. Our mayflies need a lot of cloud cover and at least some precipitation to really get going here due to our dry arid climate in the high desert. This means if you’re out during the months of April and May and it starts to rain you probably just hit the mayfly jackpot. On those rainy days we are seeing size 16 and 18 Blue Wing Olives, size 16 Pale Morning Duns, size 16 and 14 March Browns, and the oddball size 14 Pale Evening Dun. On the sunny days you will see both Sedge and Grannom caddis in Size 12 and 14. In addition to these bugs we are seeing a fair number of size 16 craneflies, though I have not seen fish feeding on those consistently. Nymphing still remains productive in the times between hatches and fish are moving into faster and faster water with each day. Don’t be afraid to make some casts into the choppy waves on the outside of the seams you are fishing. Streamer fishing has been pretty good for all you trout spey junkies, and I have noticed a bit of an uptick on leech patterns versus the sculpin patterns I was fishing a couple weeks back. They will still eat the sculpin but they have been liking a black Humongous Bugger. This bugger is just a wooly bugger with a much longer tail that has a ton of boogie in it when swung.
Stonefly Talk-
Let’s talk big bugs! It’s getting close to the time of year when stoneflies emerge from the depths and crawl around the grass hummocks and trees lining the river. Stoneflies are a much different species of aquatic insect in that they are rock crawlers that don’t swim to the surface to emerge in the film. Instead these big bugs start migrating towards the banks about a month before the hatch. When the water temps consistently hit 54 to 56 degrees they will take the final step and crawl up the rocks and onto the banks to emerge from their nymph cases. During their migration fishing the nymphs as a dropper off of a dry close to shore can be deadly. Once they have emerged from their casing they have about a three-week life span. This is rather long in comparison to the much shorter life span of mayflies and caddis. The longer life span means more chances to fish this hatch over the course of a month. The stoneflies rely on the riparian trees and grasses to provide them shelter while they look for a mate and during this time the clumsy bugs will inevitably fall in and become a trout snack. When fishing this hatch I am always looking for water with depth along a heavy grass line or overhanging trees that I can tuck a cast underneath. You will surely lose a few flies to the trees but the rewards are incredible with explosive eats as the fish rush to grab the fly before it gets away. My joke has always been if you get the fly in the right spot trout lose all sense of self preservation in the name of eating the stoneflies. This doesn’t mean that every cast in every spot will be rewarded with a fish, but when you get into the right zone and tempt fate with the trees you’ll find yourself having a day you’ll never forget. During their time as hatched adults the stoneflies will migrate upstream each day as they search for a mate. When the temps get warm mid day the bugs start flying upstream and dry fly productivity goes up. One of the biggest downfalls I see with people coming out to fish the hatch is that they stop fishing around dinner time and head back to camp. If you are willing to eat a late dinner and fish the late evening session you will find fish that are more willing to eat in the shade of the canyon walls and less people around you to boot. Forget your dinner and focus on the fish!
Flies That Are Working-
CDC Split Wing March Brown Size 12 & 14
Comparadun March Brown Size 16 & 14
CDC Blue Wing Olive Cripple Size 16 & 18
Hi Vis Parachute BWO size 16 & 18
Purple Haze Parachute Size 12, 14, 16 & 18
Pink Bead Hares Ear Size 16
Pink Bead Pheasant Tail Size 16
Roza’s Red and Green Tag Jig Size 16
Silver Bead Pheasant Tail with Hot Orange Collar Size 18
Silver Bead Green Glo Brite Perdigon with Hot Orange Collar Size 16
Jig Bead Head Girdle Bug Size 8 & 10
Jig CDC Stone Nymph Size 10
Elk Hair Caddis Size 14 & 16
CDC Sedge Caddis Size 14 & 16
Olive Sculpzilla Size 4
Black Sculpzilla Size 4
Kreelex Minnow Size 8
Black Crystal Humongous Bugger Size 8
Black Mayers Mini Leech Size 10
Thanks for tuning in to my fishing report. Keep in mind that our trout are spawning. If you’re wading some fine gravel and seeing big fish paired up you’re in the wrong place. It’s always fun to watch them spawn, but please stay out of the reds when you see them and do your part to help keep our next generation of trout safe. Tight lines and happy fishing to everyone who gets out in the next couple weeks. Signing off as a sleepless guide waiting with bated breath for the stonefly hatch to begin. Happy spring everyone!
