The Hoppers are coming! The Hoppers are coming! Get those boxes of foam ready and stock up on floatant now. We’re seeing signs that suggest another great terrestrial season. The Grasshopper bite was just getting started towards the end of this first of two weeks and if it’s anything like last year’s Hopper action, there’s no end in sight. With all that being said, the Hopper fishing isn’t red hot quite yet but the early signs are promising and it is so much fun. We are hopeful! The leaps, drive by’s, bites, and near bite misses are great fishing entertainment fun because you can see the fish go for it. Be patient and let them bite it. A little twitching can help attract them too. The action can be on the edge but also in the middle of the river and near boulders and a variety of places. Experiment!
A few nice ones have been caught on the dries these two weeks. Although we’re all very excited about Grasshoppers don’t forget about some of the other smaller Attractor Dry Flies like the Purple Haze and Purple Craze, Delektable Chubbyness, Stimulators, Dornan’s Water walkers, Delektable CDC Elk Hair Caddis, Delektable Sparkle Bugs and “X” Caddis, and the Delektable Twisted Baby. In addition PMD’s and Sallies were still on this past first week. As far as the terrestrials go the More-Or-Less hopper, Thunder Thighs, Panty Dropper Hopper, Yeagers 409, Delektable Flying Ant and Bloom’s Stealth Ant are all good choices.
The Nymphs have been and likely always will be the most effective way to catch fish. Size #16 has become more frequent on the smaller nymphs. Delektable Lil’ Spankers, Delektable Hammerhead Jig Hooks, Delektable Lime and Lemon Juice, Formerly Known as Prince, Various Prince Patterns, Psycho Princes in a variety of colors, Shop Vacs, Pat’s Rubberlegs, Lightning Bugs, $3 Dips and Lemon Drops have all been successful on the bead head side of things.
The Streamer bite has been sort of hit or miss but there’s plenty of carnivorous little Brown Trout swimming around out there. Sculpin patterns are your best bet, smaller darker flies like Mini Loop Sculpins, Delektable Screamers, Zonkers, JR’s Conehead and John Bond’s Dragon should move some nice trout.
Some days are good… some days are not as good. When you have a bad day on the river, is it really that bad? Does it ever make you want to quit fishing? Maybe, but probably not. For there to be good days, you must have the “bad” days to make the good days seem “good”. Some people come into the shop and remind me that even the bad days need to be put in the “great days” category, because really, you are still on the river. Now is it really that bad?
The nymph game is picking up to another level with this weather, the fish are eating the larger size Stoneflies that are starting to move more with this weather. They have also been keying in on the shiny patterns. The Lightning Bugs and shiny Nymphs such as the Silvie’s lightning bug, the Silver Lightning Bug and the Delektable Lil’ Spanker Silver are all good little shiny bugs that have been working well with the cloudy weather. Most of those would be in a size 14 or 16. That Crystal Dip in a size 16 on that curved hook are working well. The Pat’s Rubber legs is a tried and true pattern that will get fish in the net for you, but if you wanted to wonder off the beaten path of big nymphs, we have a variety to choose from here. The Delektable Mega Prince Standard in a size 6 or 8 has been a go-to of mine for years and years and years in the fall months. That pattern has fooled so many fish over the years. The Delektable Hurless Stone in the Gray size 6 and 8 is a great pattern for the fall times with the water being lower and a little colder. I would also check out the Delektable Stonefly Candy patterns that work in a number of colors. The Twenty Incher is also a great Stonefly pattern that works well in the size 6 or 8. Mostly, try and get a drag free drift with any big black/brown/olive Stonefly and you will have pretty good luck here on the ole’ Madison with the stones.
