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Mother's Day Caddis - Happy Mother's Day!

4K views 46 replies 23 participants last post by  The Drifter 
#1 ·
It popped















What a special piece of water

 
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#9 ·
Yeah we didn't talk too much there for a bit" except for the occasional "ho-lee shit." Bugs crawling all over you, down your back, in your ears. It was fun.

Just a wild guess……….you threw big streamers all day! :p
Correct. Well most of the day anyway. My buddy got the brown in the photo on tan streamer. Unfortunately it was pretty windy so dry fly fishing was tough. But I also nymphed and this caddis pupa was my best fly of the day.



I'd love to say we crushed it but honestly the fishing was kind of slow. It is just an incredible experience just to see that much biomass and cool to be able to fish it as a lot of years this river is blown out during the hatch from runoff.

And of course any day out beats the alternative.

 
#14 ·
Another nice report, and pictures, Swimmy.

I'd seen that the water level was going down there last week, and the clarity (what you can see through the bugs) doesn't look too bad. Should be at least a couple more days of fishable water there this week I'd think.

I noticed the boat you were in from your pics. I'd love to get one, but have some questions as to how they'd do on some of the rougher water, such as below town or up high. Have any thoughts on that?

John
 
#15 ·
I noticed the boat you were in from your pics. I'd love to get one, but have some questions as to how they'd do on some of the rougher water, such as below town or up high. Have any thoughts on that?
The Adipose fan club is interesting. Guys who own them absolutely love them. I think they are cool boats for slower tailwaters and stillwaters but they just aren't designed for anything bigger. If you are a good on the sticks, there is usually a skiff line but I have much more confidence in a Mackenzie style.

I think the most versatile boat for SW Montana is a 16' Clack LP. I'm biased though since I own one.
 
#30 ·
Yeah there were some dinks rising throughout the day. We did a little sight fishing but no luck really. I think you are better off nymphing or fishing emergers when it is that thick like T.O. said. Pretty much all of our fish came subsurface.

Also, right a dusk the dry fly bite typically picks on this river.

How the hell do you fish dry flies to a hatch that is so intense that the river surface looks like it is carpeted?
D
Throw a streamer :D
 
#29 ·
This is such an awesome hatch. We had some great days in eastern WA last year like this. The fishing wasn't great, but just floating the river during a hatch like that is pretty incredible. I have a video somewhere I'll try to post. I'm guessing the top water action isn't that great because the fish are just gorging on bugs subsurface and don't need to chase them up? I'm not sure, but it never seems like there is that much surface action with that many bugs around.
 
#34 ·
Fantastic evening of dry fly fishing. Perfect weather, lots of caddis, handful of mayflies, and even a couple stoneflies. The caddis hatch on this river is one of my favorites of the year.



One thing I learned years ago on this river, hard to beat the purple haze during the caddis hatch.



I had been catching a couple fish and slowly working upstream. I came across this decent bow sippin' caddis. He was tucked in super tight to the left of the big rock on the right. It took the perfect slice cast to land the fly where he'd eat it. I sat there for 20 minutes working this fish. I finally got him to eat but the fly was submerged and I didn't get a good set. So much fun.



I proceeded to run up the body count on these little guys.





Now this is what trout fishing is supposed to be. Headed back out there tomorrow evening.
 
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