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Dentry: When things get buggy, so do trout May 2, 2003
The
Hatch, Arrival Day
One Day
Two Departure
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Dentry:
When things get buggy, May 2, 2003 From the Rocky Mountain News COTOPAXI - When caddis flies are hatching, the Arkansas River's wild brown trout often go a little berserk. A few evenings ago, the browns were throwing caution to the wind and themselves into the air. Trout were porpoising and crashing down on their floating prey. Apparently, caddis flies have a catnip-like effect on trout. At least their mass emergence does. Zillions of tasty aquatic moths popping from the river bottom can spur a frenzy unexpected in a species of fish otherwise famous for its caution and diffidence. "When they do that, they are trying to drown the bugs," fishing guide Larry Kingrey explained after a small brown trout leapt from the water and splashed down on Lee Scott's dry fly. Low airfares had seduced Scott and pal Tom Stark to Colorado from their Pineville, Pa., homes. They rented a car, enjoyed some mountain scenery and descended along the river from Salida to Canon City, registering hundreds of windshield bug hits. "We didn't even know about the caddis hatch," said Stark, who had fished the Arkansas once before. Their accidental timing proved impeccable. "We've got a blanket of bugs from Canon City to Salida," said Bill Erdington, owner of the Royal Gorge Anglers shop, where Kingrey serves as chief guide and fly professor. The famed caddis hatch, known simply as The Hatch in these parts, becomes the main event along some 60 miles of river every late April and early May. The Hatch offers some great fishing. But it does have its moods. For the longest time the blanket seemed folded and put away. Few insects emerged at 10 a.m., when caddis typically get cooking. At a riffle downstream from Cotopaxi, a brief flurry of bugs broke out and fizzled, without any sign of rising trout. Stark and Scott remained politely mum about expectations. Kingrey wore the poker face that is a trademark of fishing guides who desperately want what should be happening to happen. What happened instead was a scene from about a week earlier, when cold nights conspired with low flows to chill the Arkansas and put the bugs on hold. "The water is so low that it won't hold its temperature very well through the night," Edrington had explained. In fact, the Arkansas has been flowing at just less than 290 cubic feet per second, perfect for caddis and anglers, given a little sunshine. When warm weather set in last week, the blanket emerged with a vengeance. Now, one damp, shivery night had put the bugs back in the cooler. Not to worry. Riding to the rescue were millions of female caddis, which, having hatched, must fly back to the river each evening to lay their eggs and die. Trout particularly relish this stage of the caddis life cycle, the more so when they haven't feasted all day. The slurps and rings of rising trout started at about 4 p.m. and grew more intense as the insects bounced down. Finally, the anglers were hooking up, releasing trout and hooking up again. Everyone grinned, and Kingrey's landing net stayed wet. "Is this The Hatch?" Stark said, toying with the obvious. It was at least the evening version. At Parkdale, a few miles downstream, trout spent the hour before sunset launching from another riffle, trumpeting the promise of even better days to come. As May delivers more warmth and longer days, this hatch might well stack up as one of the river's more impressive main events. BE FLY-WISE: The best water to fish is a gentle riffle, knee-deep or so, which caddis prefer for their mating rituals, Kingrey said. The best fly depends on the stage and complexion of each day's hatch. Of course, you can get by with one dry pattern, an Elk Hair Caddis, Size 16, dark olive body. But it isn't likely to draw many fish early, when few adult caddis are on the water. Kingrey said he almost always fishes with two flies, including a caddis larva or pupa imitation on the dropper. For the mornings, he recommends a larva weighted with a brass bead head. "I generally run the larva behind a stonefly nymph, because the river has a good population of (golden) stoneflies," he said. When the hatch gets cooking, he ties a pupa on the dropper. First it will be weighted. Later, he switches to an unweighted pupa for its tendency to ride higher, imitating emergence. "I think you need a variety of pupae," Kingrey said, "some weighted, some unweighted, some with sparkle, some with bead heads and some without. I generally go to sparkle later in the hatch." For the evening blizzard, his dry fly is a spent caddis or a female with a green butt for the egg sac. Caddis are active insects, which is why trout feeding on them tend to make such fools of themselves. The emerging pupae swim fast, and the returning egg-layers flutter a lot. For that reason, Kingrey said, a traditional dead-drift often is a poor approach. "When I'm using a spent caddis in the evening," he said, "I skitter them a lot and then let them dead drift. Slam!"
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