Gone, Gone, Gone The Bugs Are Gone, Gone, Gone.

 

With the possible exception of the UEB, and I'm not going over there to check, the Big Bug season is in the rear view mirror. It's been ten days since I've seen a green drake on the river, although I did see a brown drake on my porch screens Monday. What does this mean? Well, there are already fewer drift boats on the river, many of the guides have departed for Montana, Alaska and other destinations where they work the summer months. The number of fishermen on the river system is also decreasing. The big bug season lasts about six weeks and is always the busiest time of the year.

What happens next? The spring sulfurs will move up the tailwaters and if you find a hatch you will see rising fish. The spinner falls occur in the evening and also get the fish up. As long as the freestones stay below 70 degrees there will be fishing throughout the system. The forecast for the next week looks good in that respect. When the freestones get too warm to fish, those of us still fishing will all be in the UEB, the WB, and that portion of the BR that remains below 70 degrees. Early in July the summer sulfurs (Dorothea's) will start hatching in the coldest waters of both the UEB and the WB, at which time things get really crowded again as the hatches occur mid afternoon and are well attended.

The fishing - Many fishermen are easily discouraged when there aren't clouds of bugs and fish rising everywhere. To be sure many of the big browns will be switching to a fish diet, in fact, my fishing log shows that the percentage of big fish began dropping off in the last week of May. The fish are still there, they have to eat and if there aren't enough bugs they turn to eating other things. The easy days when everybody was catching big fish are over, but if you are on the water you will still get chances at big fish, just not as many.