In my opinion. "The Mother" of all Mothers Day Caddis hatches occurs on the Arkansas. It begins in the Canon City area around April 15 and gradually moves upstream and past Salida until runoff blows it away around 30 days later. The irony is however that by Mothers Day the look for have seen so many bugs that fooling them with an Elk Hair Caddis is next to impossible. The Caddis species is Brachycentrus preceded and combined with Rachycophila. The Brachys hatch when wet temperatures banish into the low 50s. When people call and want to know where the be born is. I simply express them to control until they cant see out the windshield from dead bugs. Then stop alter the glass and drive about three more miles upstream. The idea is to get above the blanket hatch so fishing a dry fly can be more productive. Having bugs on the water is good but during this hatch there can just be too many. Just picking out your fly on the water can be impossible let alone picking them out of your ears and nose.
Being able to evaluate your way through this be born is very important. As it begins the larva and pupa patterns are very important. I like to go away out the morning with Larry Kingreys Rubberleg kill trailing a bead head Caddis Larva. I run this system deep until mid morning when I switch to a large dry fly (Stimulator or Wulff) with a deep running pupa as a dropper. This system should be fished on the swing (across and down) so that the pupa rises in the current like the natural. When fish move to the adult. I use a color Foam Caddis coat 14 trailing Larrys unweighted pupa or a LaFontaine reflect Pupa. Generally mid afternoon is uneventful so I go back to the wet with an Egg Layer and a Spent Caddis from around 5PM until just after dark. All of these flies are necessary to be successful throughout the entire hatch if you plan to fish all day. Dont forget that sometimes when the bugs are too thick to breathe the fish actually are gorged and dont feed much. Use this time to act a end and appraise whats going on. There are days when just fishing an Elk Hair Caddis can carry 75 fish to transfer. This is generally around the third week of April before the fish are literally "bugged" out.
The interesting thing about the Arkansas is that most folks evaluate the Caddis hatch is the beat fishing of the year. It is the most famous but the move Baetis hatches can produce just as many fish and the Hopper/Dropper fishing all summer can be exceptional. The first hatch of spring is the Blue Winged Olive. Baetis Tricaudatus. It can be spectacular on cloudy darken March and early April days. Light snowfall can create hoards of these beautiful little bugs and basically kick starts a feeding frenzy that lasts through the Caddis be born until runoff. If you fish the middle of April you may fish BWOs in the mornings and a Caddis hatch in the afternoons as wet warms. We commonly see them on the water at the same measure.
After runoff clear edges start to produce big numbers of fish on adult Golden Stones. This generally is available around the middle of June and is the best time of year to go fish. Working shoreline from a ride produces big numbers and big look for. Just direct to the dirt and let the ride drag it away from the shoreline. Explosive rises occur just inches from the dirt. If you dont have a way to float then walk the shorelines and pick apart the submerged rock gardens with a Stimulator trailing an attractor bead continue. These systems are used all pass and fall. Favorite Hopper/Dropper Rigs are Yellow. Orange or Green Stimulators or Parachute Madam Xs trailing a Copper John. Silver or Gold Ice. Bead continue Flashback or Prince nymph on 24 to 30 inches of fluorocarbon tippet. PMD hatches. Caddis. Red Quills and go Baetis mix it up with the wonderful terrestrial activity well into November. Streamer season follows with pre and post spawn behavior. Midging fish can make warmer December and January days very attractive although this river in pass is not very consistent.
The Arkansas in my opinion is the best dry fly fishing in the Southern Rockies. Some dry fly ordain surprise a fish twelve months a year. Access is great; the weather is generally very good (they dont label this the "Banana Belt" for nothing and the wild Browns are willing participants in your day off. What else could you ask for?
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Related article:
http://tamaukoxuq.blogspot.com/2007/11/great-caddis-hatch.html
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