Steelhead
Winter Egg Patterns
Fly
Fishing Adventures
My
Grandfather's Water
An Early Hatch |
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| The winter season is
long, cold and gray in central New York. Through this long cold
winter season, fly-fishing is without any major insect hatches. The
other three seasons are graced with some beautiful hatches from the
Hendrickson's in the spring to late fall caddis and olives. Through
the winter, just the sight of an insect can get the heart pumping and
create a vision of the dry fly season to come. Often times during the
winter the sight of these little midges that hatch on the Salmon River
gets me all pumped up. When the majority of fly-fisherman think of hatches the first type of insects that come to mind are the delicate mayflies, which are synonymous with the sport. In central New York they are not the first to hatch. Every year, when there is a wintertime thaw or on a sunny day in the late spring, little black stoneflies start to emerge. I have seen these little guys on various streams throughout the region including Finger Lakes tributaries, Lake Ontario tributaries and various other inland streams. The best and easiest place to see them is on a snow bank. If there is still snow along the stream banks when they hatch, they are a dead give away. Their black bodies against the white snow make them stick right out. If the snow is not there, looking at some bushes, trees, boulders or any other structure along the stream banks is the next approach to spotting them. The fishing can be productive during these early stonefly hatches if there is a heavy enough hatch and the fish key in on the insects. These insects will not emerge like most mayflies and caddis, but on the contrary they will crawl along the bottom of the stream until they reach the edge and then they will crawl up the bank. They are not available on the ascent, so as they crawl they will need to be dislodged from the rocks or the fish will need to scoop them up from the rock by turning on its side. There is some debate whether fish even key in on these little guys, but my success with little black patterns through the winter is enough to convince me. Often times the weather is so cold that the wings will not be fully developed, which is cool to see. Looks like a nymph crawling across the ground! A deep slow presentation will be essential during these early hatches due to cold water temperatures and to mimic the crawling behavior of these little stoneflies. | |||||||||
| Here are some flies to try during the stonefly hatch: | |||||||||
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