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TIGHT LINES July 2005 Newsletter of the Rabun Chapter (522) of Trout Unlimited Editor – Doug
Adams edadams1@alltel.net "The best time to go
fishing is when you can get away." Robert Traver
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THE
CHAPTER MEETING PLACE!
“FORWARD CASTING”
Important Dates - See you there!
July 12 & 13 Electro-Shock Sampling of
Chattooga River (USFS, SC DNR & GA DNR). Tuesday - 9 AM Meeting at Cherry Hill C.G. entrance. Camping - Tuesday night at Cherry
Hill C.G. (food on your own) Wednesday - 9 AM Meeting at Burrell’s Ford
Bridge.
July 19 Electro-Shock Sampling
of Lower Reed Creek (USFS & GA DNR), 9 AM, End of road on GA side of
DH; Contact Terry Rivers (706) 782- 7419 tlr1121@alltel.net
as he is preparing the lunch!
July 19 Chapter Meeting, 6:30 PM,
Clayton Presbyterian Church
Program
– Monte Seehorn: ‘The Chattooga Coalition, Objectives for the Next 20 Years’
July 22 & 23 Campout & Work Project rescheduled
to Aug 5 & 6
Aug 5 & 6 Campout Friday
Night & Work Project (with USFS) Saturday Morning, Location TBD
(Maybe Wildcat Ck or Double Bit)
August 16 Family Picnic, 6 PM, Kelly’s
Water Falls Park
August 23 Board of Directors meeting,
Location TBD
August 27 GA TU Council Meeting, 9 AM,
Island Ford Conference Center, Atlanta
FLY OF THE MONTH
by Terry Rivers
Prince
Nymph
I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THIS FLY. I LOVE TO TRAIL THIS BEHIND A STIMULATOR BUT BE SURE YOU TIE THESE WITH NO WEIGHT IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE IT AS AN EMERGER. IF NOT, TIE IT WITH WEIGHT AND DREDGE THE BOTTOM.
Hook:
Nymph size 10 to 16
Thread:
Red or Black
Tail:
Brown Goose Biots
Wings:
White Goose Biots
Body:
Peacock Herl - Ribbed with Gold Wire or Tinsel
Hackle:
Brown
"There are eight species of rabbits in the
MONTANA - the Eastern Cottontail, Mountain Cottontail, Desert Cottontail,
Snowshoe Hare, White-tailed Jack Rabbit, Black-tailed Jack Rabbit, Pygmy
Rabbit, and the American Pika. However,
I've been told that during trout season, fly fishermen outnumber the rabbits
two to one!"
Jimmy D Moore
JULY HATCHES
The Bugs Time of
Month Time of
Day
Suggested Flies .
Brown Stonefly All Month
Early to Mid AM 10–12 Brown
Stonefly Nymph
Golden Stonefly All Month
Early AM 6–10 Golden
Stonefly Nymph
Light Cahill Mayfly
All Month E to L pm
12-14 Light Cahill 12-14
Light Cahill Nymph
Trico Mayfly Early
Mid AM 20 Parachute
Trico
Trico Spinner Fall Late PM 20–22
Poly Wing Black Spinner
Midges
All Month All Day 18-22 Griffith's Gnat 18-22 Midge Pupa
Terrestrials – Ants, Beatles,
Crickets, Inch-Worms, Hoppers, Etc Various
Times & Sizes
"There he stands, draped in more equipment than a telephone lineman, trying to outwit an organism with a brain no bigger than a breadcrumb, and getting licked in the process." Paul O'Neil
The Story of the Chattooga
Coalition -
Founded: 1985 (cont.
from June issue) told by Doug Adams – a Chattooga angler
since 1955
Goal: The goal or purpose of this Coalition is
to give special
emphasis to protection and enhancement of the fishery
resources, water quality, and overall health of the Chattooga River and its
tributaries.
As a result of the accomplishments in water quality, improvements in fishery quality, and the unique backcountry solitude, in 1999 the Upper Chattooga was named one of the 100 best trout steams in the nation.
The Trout Unlimited Commitment to the Upper Chattooga: The Coalition has spawned three very active chapters of TU. The Rabun (GA) TU Chapter charted in 1986. The Chattooga (SC) TU Chapter a couple of years later. Then the Foothills (GA) TU Chapter spun off the Rabun Chapter. Even though TU members are not the majority of the Upper Chattooga backcountry anglers, we are very committed to ‘giving back’ even more to the resource and not just being ‘resource users’. The TU Councils and Chapters from GA and SC have been full partners with the Forest Service and with the DNRs from GA and SC in the Chattooga Coalition since the day it was founded in 1985. The Rabun Chapter of TU alone has had over 40 work-outings in the Chattooga watershed under the supervision and direction of Forest Service and DNR personnel. We have participated in activities to collect data, to protect the watershed, and to enhance the trout resources. Rabun TU members alone have contributed hundreds of man-days and over $75,000 in challenge cost-share activities in the watershed.
Current Concerns:
·
In 1995 the
Wilderness Society and Sierra Club identified the Upper Chattooga backcountry
section (between Reed Creek and Burrell’s Ford) as a prime candidate for
designation as a Wilderness Area. This
designation would bring to an end the ‘Put and Grow’ fisheries management with
helicopter stocking.
The new Forest Management Plans for both Sumter NF and
Chattahoochee NF placed this area in “backcountry” prescriptions. The Coalition supported the allocation of
the “backcountry” prescriptions to this beautiful wild area.
· In 1996, after Lower Chattooga boating reached 80,000 float trips per year, American Whitewater (AW), representing private boaters, began their campaign to remove the ‘zoning’ boating ban above Highway 28. Private boaters want unrestricted year around access to this last 21 miles of the Chattooga. This includes the headwaters, the Wilderness, the backcountry, and the delayed harvest sections. Prior to the ‘zoning’ of the Upper Chattooga as ‘no-boating’ in 1976, conflicts occurred regularly at various locations between anglers and private boaters. Anglers and other existing visitors don't want user conflicts brought to the Upper Chattooga. ‘Zoning’ is a proper resource management tool. This whole Forest Service planning process is about ‘zoning’ and protection of the resources, such as solitude. The resource of ‘solitude’ experienced and shared in harmony by the existing visitors to these wild sections should be protected and preserved.
In April ‘05, the USFS Washington Office (as a result of an AW appeal) instructed the Sumter NF to conduct additional analyses regarding social and natural resource impacts and to involve affected user groups. Until the additional analyses are completed and a revised decision submitted to Washington (which could take up to 2 years), management of boating on the Upper Chattooga above Highway 28 will revert to the direction in the Sumter’s 1985 forest plan, and the closure decision made in that plan will remain in effect. TU, GA DNR, and SC DNR support the continuation of the 29-year-old ‘zoning’. We believe maintaining the ‘zoning’ with no boating above Highway 28 is doing what is the best for the future of our national treasure, the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River.
· Starting in 2000 the Forest Service began proposing the paving of the existing 10 mile long Burrell’s Ford Road (BFR). Anglers and other existing user groups do not support the paving of the entire length of the BFR for 3 basic reasons:
> Esthetics - The value of forest-based recreation is directly dependent on its contrast with ‘civilization’. For people that want to ‘get away’, an unpaved road contrasts markedly with the ‘paved-over world’ of the city.
> Economic reasons - The first 2.7
miles of paving is estimated to cost over $1.5 million. These funds should be allocated to
correcting the worse watershed sedimentation problems first.
Anglers do support the partial paving of
the critical sections of this 37-year-old road, but not the entire road. The Coalition will not take a position on
this issue.
·
Another
concern that began in about 2000 is the loss of the hemlock trees to the
hemlock woolly adelgid. This is more
than an esthetics concern. There is the
potential for loss of shade canopy to streams throughout the watershed. Before 10 AM and after 4 PM, the hemlocks
provided large shaded areas directly to the waters of the Upper Chattooga
River. In many riparian areas, the
‘rhododendron hell’ is so thick that replacement trees cannot penetrate through
to the sunlight. Prescribed burns, if
permitted in the W & S Corridor, could ‘knock back’ the rhododendron and allow
natural replacement sprouts to get a start.
‘The Chattooga Coalition,
Objectives for the Next 20 Years’: Come
to the next Rabun Chapter meeting on July 19th and
Monte Seehorn, the Coalition Chairman, will discuss the current concerns and
present his vision for the Coalition’s next 20 years.
"All
of us search for that perfect trout stream.
Those who find it treasure it the rest of their lives.
Those who
don't keep on searching."
"Trout Streams I've
Known" by Jimmy D. Moore
photos of the Upper
Chattooga by Doug Adams
Hannibal
Bolton to present the program at the 19th Annual Rabun Rendezvous on
January 21, 2006.
Bill Kelly has arranged for Hannibal Bolton to present the
program at the next Rabun Rendezvous. Hannibal told Bill he has a very
special interest in the Back-the-Brookie program and Rabun TU's involvement in
BtB. Should be a great program!
Hannibal wanted to get a ‘feel’ for
Rabun TU so we E-mailed him back issues of ‘TIGHT LINES’ and the 2005
Rabun Rendezvous announcement. Here is
the E-mail reply from Hannibal and a brief bio.
Mr. Adams,
Thanks for the information on
the Rabun TU Chapter, I was able to open and view all attachments. I look
forward to attending our meeting and discussing the importance of preserving a
way of life (fishing) for future generations.
HANNIBAL
BOLTON, CHIEF
DIVISION
OF FISH AND WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AND HABITAT RESTORATION
U.S. FISH
AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
DEPARTMENT
OF THE INTERIOR
A native of Crawfordsville,
Ark., Bolton received his bachelor's degree from the University of Arkansas -
Pine Bluff in agriculture/agronomy, and his master's degree from Ohio State
University in fisheries. He is a 26-year career veteran of the Fish and
Wildlife Service, and has served in several technical fisheries positions.
Bolton currently serves as Chief, Division of Fish and
Wildlife Management and Habitat Restoration, in the Service's central office in
Washington, DC. There he maintains
oversight of the development of the fishery program's budget, policy and
legislative activities, as well as the Fish and Wildlife Management and Marine
Mammal Program issues. In addition to
his career with the Service, Bolton has also been very active in many American
Fisheries Society (AFS) activities, serving as the Chair of the Awards
Committee of AFS, WI Chapter, as a Federal representative on the executive
committee of the MN Chapter of AFS, as well as president of the WI chapter of
AFS from 1991-1992. He has also served
as the Committee Chairman of the Great Lakes Technical Committee of the AFS's
North Central Division from 1994 - 1995.
“Ours is the grandest sport. It is an intriguing
battle of wits between an angler and a trout; and in addition to appreciating
the tradition and grace of the game, we play it in the magnificent out-of-doors.”
Ernest G. Schwiebert, Jr
“BACKCASTING”
May 31 - Clearing
of Low Hanging Brush on Betty Creek: Rabunites
Ray K., Terry R., John S., Russell J., Doug A., and Charlie B. spent the
morning completing the work begun on March 26th. The creek is now opened-up for fly-casting
for the 2nd Annual GA Trout Camp!
Doug and Charlie stayed on for a couple of more hours to mark-off the 12
fishing beats both along the fence and in the stream. All the walking back and forth in the pasture grass caused Doug
and Charlie to have a terrible attack of hay fever that stayed with them for 2
days.
June 1 – GA TU Council Meeting at Bass
Pro Shops: Kathy drove and got Charlie,
Ray, and Doug there early enough to do some shopping for those quick-dry wet
wading fishing pants. See the GA TU
Council web site for the minutes of the meeting.
June 4 - Kids Fishing Event (KFE): Sponsored by the USFS at the First Tallulah River C G: About a 100 kids were there with their
parents, brothers, sisters, and friends to fill their stringers with fresh
trout. Good weather and willing trout
made for a fun event. About 7 Rabunites
and the 2 summer interns we sponsor were there to assist the USFS and DNR put
on this annual event. It was Andy
Gaston’s last Tallulah River KFE as a Rabunite. Andy is transferring to the Cherokee NF in SE Tennessee to live
and work near his hometown and family.
Good luck, Andy, - - - we’re going to miss you!
June 12
thru 17 - GA Trout Camp at RGNS:
Mack Martin, camp instructor and mentor, said “The 2005 Georgia
Camp was concluded on Friday the 17th and 24
young men and women graduated after six days of classes on fly casting, fly
& knot tying, entomology, cold water conservation & preservation, and
trip planning. They did work on stream
structures and worked with the US Forest Service on shocking and fish
counting. But what they liked most were
the endless hours of trout fishing with some of the best trout fishermen in
Georgia. After it was all over, both
campers and mentors wonder who was the most fortunate for the opportunity to
participate in the Trout Camp.” See pages
4 and 5 for more coverage of the 2005 Georgia Trout Camp.
June 21 – Chapter Meeting: About 18 folks gave up an
evening of fishing on their favorite trout waters to learn where the trout
really are in our streams. Jimmy Harris
narrated an excellent video presentation that included underwater scenes taken
in several North Georgia trout streams.
The views were shot with an underwater video camera on a 10-foot
pole. We saw how trout use holding spots that don't require them to expend any more
energy than they will take in. And the
holding spot must provide the trout with opportunities to feed frequently.
We saw how
important it is to “read the water” to find those holding spots when fishing
with nymphs. And we saw how what we
think is that perfect ‘dead drift’ really looks to the trout on
the bottom of the stream. It was a
great program.
There were 8 neat
items donated by members for the bucket raffle (including 3 fly assortments). The raffle raised $83 to cover the cost of
the copying and mailing the newsletter to the chapter members without
E-mail. Jimmy Harris won the Rabunite
map of THE RIVER. Now he can get rid of
that ‘bootlegged’ copy he has been using.
June 23 – BtB Water Sampling of
10 Rabun County Creeks: Rabunites
Ray, Doug, Charlie, along with Alex
Watson (Chairman of the GA TU “Back the Brookie” (BtB) Conservation Committee)
volunteered to travel to beautiful remote reaches of the county to collect
bottles of water from known native brook trout streams. They followed the specific instructions from
the USFS. Other volunteers sampled ten other streams in NE
Georgia on the same day. The water
samples were all delivered to the USFS office in Clayton and then transported
to a lab at Clemson University for analysis.
June 28 – Board of Directors
Meeting: The BOD meeting was attended by 9 Rabunites. A new slate of officers and directors were
nominated for F/Y 2006 (see letter from Ray at the end of this newsletter). The BOD reviewed the mid-year financial
report (over $6000 in the treasury that is not committed). The July work outing with the USFS was
rescheduled to Aug. 6th.
Programs for Sept., Oct., and Nov. were discussed. Our plans for volunteering at both of the
July electro-shock samplings were finalized.
The Rabun Chapter will actively oppose the proposed Interstate Highway 3
for environmental/watershed protection reasons and we will notify our Senators
and Congressmen by letter. The Rabun
Chapter will send a letter to our Senators and Congressmen urging them to
restore the full $1 million to the Georgia share of the F/Y 2006 LWCF. The BOD also reviewed the 2005 GA Trout Camp
and ways to make it even better next year.
It was a 2-hr. meeting and a lot of important Chapter business was
handled.
FINAL WORDS
An old man in his final breaths
called in his family and said "I must apologize to you all. I suppose I
haven't been the perfect father and husband. I shamefully admit that I spent as
much of my life as I could in the woods and on the streams. I was rarely at
home during the fishing seasons and I'll admit that I spent too much time at
the fly shop, and too much money on rods and lines and reels." He
paused here to rest for a minute, then continued. "I've been a terrible
father and I hope you all forgive me." Then he paused again and looked
around. Then he closed his eyes and
smiled and said in a half whisper to himself, "and on the other
hand....I have caught a helluva lot of trout." Anonymous
To all Georgia members of
Trout Unlimited:
Georgia
Trout Camp 2005 was another howling (actually hollerin') success. Twenty boys and four girls spent five days
learning to cast, tie flies, improve streams, identify insects, read the water,
treat other anglers properly, prepare for a trip, be safe and...oh,
yeah...FISH!!
After I recover from the
hectic pace of camp, I'm always amazed at how well it all worked. That success comes from a lot of people,
both TUer's and others, being willing to give of their time and talents and
being unbelievably flexible. Due to very heavy rains just before camp we had to
alter our schedule for several days.
The folks at the Burton Hatchery (Perry Thompson, Mark Lancaster and Tim
Turner) and our friends at the USFS (Andy Gaston, Doug Watson and Mitzi Cole)
were able to change plans and locations just to make things work for us. And, they all did so very willing. That kind of help is greatly
appreciated. The support we received
from folks at NGTO and Georgia Women Flyfishers adds much to our camp and we
thank you also.
This camp is truly a
"Georgia" camp with 11 of 12 chapters sending kids and volunteers
coming from all over the state. Many
TUer's took a week of vacation just to come and help. Others had to keep one hand in their business while mentoring or
instructing with the other. Everyone
gave up something just to help these kids and I believe the kids appreciated
what they received.
Listed below are the men
and women who participated in the camp as mentors, instructors, dorm
"wardens" and other positions:
Doug Adams, Charlie
Breithaupt, Russell Johnson, Maria Rodeghiero, Leslie Miller, Eedee Adams,
Kathy Breithaupt, Ray Kearns, Duane Stalnaker, Lindsey Gilbert, Dick
Albertelli, Bob Foster, Bill Kelly, Garland Stewart, Jeff Durniak, Vic Aloisio,
Patsy Gentry, Tom Landreth, Gail Tolbert, Travis Barnes, Ray Gentry, Mack
Martin, Frank Tolbert, Josh Barnett, Jimmy Harris, Pat Patillo, Larry Vigil,
Carol Berger, Tim Ivey,
Terry Rivers and Alex Watson
I have a feeling we'll do
this again next year. If anyone,
especially the mentors, has an idea that will improve the camp, please pass it
along to one of the Camp Committee...me, Mack Martin, Doug Adams, Larry Vigil,
Ray Gentry and Garland Stewart. We want
to hear what you have to say.
Thanks to all for a great
camp.
Charlie Breithaupt Director – Georgia Trout Camp
Our thanks to the Upper Chattahoochee Chapter’s June newsletter, which provided these camp photos.
Orvis,
Unicoi Outfitters, Scientific Anglers, Temple Fork Outfitters, Umpqua Feather
Merchants,
Fly Box
Outfitters, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, R. L. Winston Rod Co., Atlanta Fly
Fishing School, NGTO, Georgia Women Flyfishers, GA DNR Wildlife Resources
Division, USDA Forest Service,
William
Stephens Charitable Trust and North Georgia Community Foundation
“Churning Butter” – When playing a wild
brown trout and it rolls showing that beautiful ‘butter’ colored underbelly the
angler tells his partner it is “churning butter”, meaning it’s a wild brown
trout.
“Earning His Wings” – When playing a trout
and it jumps and goes airborne (usually a rainbow trout), the angler tells his
partner the trout is “earning his wings”.
“Bronze
Wings”- for one airborne jump
“Silver
Wings” – for two airborne jumps
“Gold
Wings” – for three airborne jumps
“Platinum
Wings” – for four airborne jumps
“A Ruby”- it
earns one ruby for every jump in excess
of four
Example: A trout that jumps airborne 6 times has “earned
platinum wings with 2 rubies”.
“Got your thermometer wet”- When you
and your partner are wading wet and one of you wades in deeper than his crotch,
the partner says: “I see you got your thermometer wet”. Then he might ask: “Just how cold is
it?” The answers can vary greatly!
“Dr Pepper
fishing” – Remember the old Dr Pepper advertising slogan: “10, 2
& 4”. An angler (usually a flatlander)
who starts fishing about 10 AM, takes a lunch break at 2 PM, and quits at 4 PM
is said to be on the Dr Pepper fishing schedule. Then in the parking lot the Dr Pepper angler
often tell the Rabunite just getting ready to start fishing: “You are wasting
your time, they need to stock more trout in here!”
“Crispy Critter” – A small trout (usually
7 inches or less) fried golden brown and eaten bones and all! Yum-Yum
“Fodder” – A whole mess of crispy critters. Fodder of brookies is the main staple diet of
Rabunites when West of Hiawassee.
"It
has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence
against a fish and loses
has it coming." John Steinbeck
-----
Original Message -----
From: David Grainger
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 8:39 PM
Subject: Kanooka Outing to the River
Charlie,
Sorry to hold you up on the way back into Clayton
this morning. Us “flat-landers” can’t hold the curves like you Rabunitees.
Thanks for
the use of Double Bit and your river. We had a great time! We hope
you did too.
We had fish
fries (all bankers) on both Friday and Saturday night while we played some
Foxfire Boys CDs.
By the way,
Sharon and I will probably owe property taxes to Rabun County. I must
have washed off the three tons of mud and sand off our trailer in our backyard.
The grass is already greener!
If anyone
misses the tarp, the excess ropes dangling from the trees, a car floor mat, two
half burnt plastic buckets, a fatigue jacket or numerous beer cans from Double
Bit campsite, the Kanooka Chapter has them. They have until Monday
morning to claim them.
Thanx for the
hospitality! Go Fish!
Dave Grainger - President,
Kanooka Chapter #398
----- Reply -----
From: Charlie Breithaupt
To: David
Grainger
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 2:01 PM
Subject: RE: Kanooka Outing to the River
Hello Dave,
I knew that was you when I passed but I
wanted to get home before dark so I made my move!! Most of those items you hauled home sound like stuff the
Rabunites own. Just bring them to the
Rendezvous next January and we'll put them in the bucket raffle.
Glad you had a good trip; sorry about
the rain but ... no rain, no river.
Charlie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Durniak" <Jeff_Durniak@dnr.state.ga.us>
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 10:35 AM
Subject: Great Waters Creek Trip ("Ping!")
On Saturday I hit Waters Creek for the first time in a long time. After two recent, tough trips to Smithgall when it ran low and clear (a few small fish and two good'uns lost), I thought I'd try some place different. I signed the check-in book a bit before lunch as angler #12, as started the walk in along the gated road.
With the water high and off-colored, I hit it right, landing two dozen or so fish from 3 inches up, with four over 14 inches and the biggest two, a 16 inch rainbow and an 18 inch brown.
I only batted .500 on
"good'uns", as four other heavy fish won their fights via pulled
hooks or nosedives into logjams. One big rainbow jumped up 2 feet and
bounced headfirst off a log before shaking off his concussion and shaking out
my fly. That was entertaining right before the heartbreak. My
new word for the day is "PING." That's the sound of 5X tippet
snapping when you try to turn a good'un right before he buries himself in the woody
debris.
The brown, a retired Buford
Hatchery resident, was a hoot. After switching to heavier 4X tippet, I
dislodged my leader butt from a debris jam where he first headed, only to find
him still on, but downstream, with two trees spanning the creek between
us. They were too low to wade under and too big to hop over.
Hmmm....
I pointed the rod toward him,
gently dropped it into the water, and then hightailed myself up the bank,
around the trees, and back into the creek to catch the rod as it was being
towed downstream past me. Alas, he was still on there! Yes,
doubters, a tape measure was used upon netting and there are a couple shots on
my disposable camera in the vest pocket. Of course, as my friend BK
reminds us, you don't have to believe this story if you don't want to.
(The rod was $38; I would not
have done that with some of my other ones!).
The fishing was best between
noon and 3 PM. After 3 PM, the water cleared and the bigger fish were
warier. The 8 and 12-inch rainbows were still a lot of fun. And
anything 13 inches or better really feels like a whopper in this small stream
where a backcast is a rarity.
This is not easy fishing.
In fact, it may be harder than Smithgall. You have to stalk them and use a short rod (7.5 feet or
less) to effectively roll cast or sidearm cast. Don't come up in a white
T-shirt or with bad knees. The regulations are strict and the violator
fines are heavy for Waters, so consult your GA fishing regulations guide before
coming. It's open Wed, Sat, and Sun. WMA Manager Frank Manning
often dons his camo and slips along the creek, sneaking a peek at unsuspecting
anglers to ensure their compliance.
If you want fresh trout for
supper or need a place to take the kids, you have a great trio of heavily stocked
streams just below this special regulation water to dunk a worm in: Dicks,
Boggs, and Frogtown.
So, if Smithgall's full and you
want another real challenge, buy the $19 WMA stamp and give Waters a try.
It's a short drive from Helen. You may
be humbled... or you may have a great trip. Your best friends this summer
may be your computer and Doppler radar. And a hot fly may be the...., well,
I don't believe I said. Good luck!
"Do not tell fish stories
where the people know you; but particularly, don't tell them where they know
the fish."
Mark Twain
Q – What do fly anglers mean when they say
there is a ‘hatch’?
A – Trout eat bugs that are born on the bottom
of steams, a.k.a. aquatic insects.
Mayflies, caddis flies, stoneflies, and midges (mosquitoes and other
small 2-winged flies) are all aquatic insects. Beneath the water the bodies of these insects change several
times as they grow from eggs to finally become flying adults. For example, the mayfly after hatching from
the egg spends about a year on the bottom of the stream as a nymph. As it grows it continues to molt (shedding
its hard outer skin for the next size larger).
After a year beneath the surface, the mayfly nymph rises to the surface
where they shed their outer skin for the final time and live a brief life as an
adult flying insect. This is the event
that fly-anglers call the ‘hatch’.
Q – Why is the ‘hatch’ important to fly
anglers?
A – Because anglers can locate trout breaking
the water surface while feeding during a “hatch”.
Again take mayflies as an example.
For a year the trout have been feeding on their nymphs on or near the
bottom of the stream. The angler tries
to ‘read the water’ and place his nymph imitation in the right spot to tempt a
trout. This is what Rabunites call
‘dredging’.
However when nymphs begin to emerge, many members of the same
species rise to the surface at once.
The trout sense the ‘hatch’ as an opportunity to eat plenty of food and
their predatory instincts kick-in. This
is called the ‘emerger’ stage.
The trout reveal their presence by ‘bulging’ the water just beneath the
surface. This is when the angler uses
wet flies or emerger patterns fished just below the surface. The fly might be used as a trailer tied 2
or 3 feet behind a dry fly (see FLY OF THE MONTH on page #1). WaaahWhoooo!
As the mayfly emerges from the water, it unfurls its wings and
floats atop the water until the wings dry enough for it to fly off to the
bushes. Wings are held upright and the
mayflies appear just like little sailboats sitting on the water. This is called the ‘dun’ stage. The trout will break the surface to feed on
duns. Sometimes it will poke its mouth
up and just sip in the dun, sometimes it will swirl creating rings on the water
as it grabs the dun, and some times the dun will disappear in what can best be
described as a commode flush! Now this
is the time to fish with dry flies matching the size, shape, and color of the
natural mayflies that are hatching.
Allow the imitation to float in a dead drift to the spot where you saw
the trout rise. WaaahWhoooo!
Several hours later the
mayfly body changes again. The duns
that flew off to the bushes come back to the water to mate and lay eggs in
their ‘spinner’ stage (the final mayfly stage with glassy wings and
elongated bodies). The females hover
close to the water and dip to the surface to deposit eggs. Then they all fall and die with wings askew. The spinner fall can trigger trout to into
another feeding binge. The angler
should cast to rises and float his spinner imitation without drag. WaaahWhoooo!
And that is what is called fishing the hatch!
----- Original Message -----
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