So Where Should I Fish The Green Drake Hatch?

 

This is the climax of the "Big Bug Season". It starts for most fishermen with the Hendricksons which are followed by March Browns, Gray Foxes, Spring Sulfurs, Isos, Yellow Stones, Green Drakes and Brown Drakes. The river system is huge and is made up of  both freestones and tailwater rivers. The variations in water temperatures between the freestones and the much colder tailwaters makes it possible to fish Hendricksons duns one night and a Green Drake spinner fall the next, (I just did.)

I'm going to list some notes from my fishing log for the past week to show you what you can expect. Keep in mind that for two of the days the air temp was a good 20 degrees above normal, and that water temps in the freestone portions of the system were over 70 degrees and were not fished.

Sunday 5/19 - Arrived at EB at 7:00, fished until 9:00. March Browns on water upon arrival, no fish up until 8:30. Sulfurs came late and fish were up and feeding on the sulfurs.

Monday 5/20 - Fished WB No Kill 2:00 - 4:00 Mix of Hendricksons and caddis. Fish up in bright sun ate both. Fished EB 7:00 - 8:45 March Browns early then Black caddis, some fish up.

Tuesday 5/21 - Fished BK 7:00 - 9:00 Nothing at all until 8:40 then fish fed heavily on Iso Nymphs. Temp got close to 90 with bright sun.

Wednesday 5/22 - Second day of unseasonably hot weather. Fished Big River 9:00 - 12:00. Shoreline rocks covered with Dragonflies that hatch a day or two before the drakes hatch. They feed on the big mayflies. Saw little else in the way of bugs and almost no rising fish. With freestone water temps over 70, I fished the WB above Deposit in a caddis and Hendrickson hatch/spinner fall.

Thursday 5/23 - Had Brown Drakes on my screens in the morning. Tried EB early, saw several golden stones fly from shoreline grass. Water too warm to fish freestones later in day. Returned to WB above Deposit and fished from 3:45 until 9:00. Next to nothing hatching until after 7:00 when the Hendricksons came. About 8:00 the spinners started falling and the fish fed. Spinners were caddis, Hendricksons and many other small mayflies.

Friday 5/23 Tried the EB from 9:00 until 11:00 in hopes of finding Cornutas, I did, but not enough to get the fish up. Went out again at 7:00 and fished the EB until 9:15. There were black caddis in the air on arrival, about 7:30 then spinners started coming down. Lots of black caddis and sulfurs, green drakes and assorted other mayflies. Fish went nuts!

Just so you know - I never saw a Green Drake or a Brown Drake hatch all week. Nothing happened on the freestones until long after Dennis and most all other anglers had headed home. Hopefully, if you  ask me where to fish and I say "I really don't know", you'll understand. All that said, it was a good week fishing wise.  

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