On this day I woke with a smile knowing after I took the dogs out for a long run I would have the rest of the day to fish. Sershen took me to a spot of his that he has been frequenting for quite a while I would imagine. South we travelled in my beat up rusty pickup. We arrived at the stream at about 1pm. Upon seeing rising trout I rigged up a #18 BWO dry flythat I tied recently, Sershen rigged a #18 Parachute Adams with a Zugbug trailer. We took turns casting dries to feeding trout and we both came up successful. After about thirty minutes the trout seemed to hold up and stopped rising. Taking an initial water temp of ~50 we waited and watching hoping that as the sun helped raise the water temp that we might catch a few BWO’s coming off.

While we waited for a water temp above 52 we picked rocks and strained the contents. Flipping two small rocks over exposed many Baetis nymphs ready to emerge. We waited and watched enjoying t-shirt weather the entire time. As time passed we stood in the water able to see the shucks from emerging flies floating past. We found a few BWO’s and Hennies as the afternoon progressed. At 3:30pm the water temp was 52.5 degrees making for ideal conditions for hatching BWO’s. Unfortunately we did not see rising trout and so we both decided to switch to streamer patterns. I chose my trusty Marabou Leech and moved from run to hole. After casting a #18 dry fly the streamer seemed clunky but it worked. I pulled a few more brown trout from the depths including a nice 16in trout that fought like a log. 

As we fished we were accompanied by an old beagle that was content just to sit and watch. He followed up the entire length of the stream we fished. As we returned to our original spot we noticed rising trout again, I quickly switched back to my BWO dry fly and on the second cast picked up another brown. I worked my way up the stream but in my haste I think I spooked the trout. I fished until I was confident I wasn’t going to pick up another trout. I really enjoyed studying the water anticipating a hatch. 

So, I haven’t posted much, this is a good thing. I’ve been playing in the water with trout rather than staring at a screen of any kind. Busy work and fishing schedules combined with getting three dogs the exercise they need has worn me out this week. I’m excited for Liz’s return tomorrow, I plan to fish the 1st half the day until about 11am, this will complete a very long, educating first week of spring that I was fortunate enough to fish much of. Pictures of all the days will follow this week. I even got a good one of a BWO, they were hatching today in water temps topping out at 52.5 degrees. Peace

-The Winona Fly Factory

The Winona Fly Factory Fly Tying Radio:

1. 30 minutes of Minnesota Public Radio
2. Tommy The Cat: Primus
3. Opiate: Tool
4. Holdin’: Yonder Mountain String Band
5. Walk The Line: Johnny Cash
6. Loser: Beck (Wendy, I laughed)
7. Sin: Nine Inch Nails
8. Daylight: Aesop Rock
9. Bleed the Freak: Alice In Chains
10. General Tso’s Chicken: The Northwoods Band
11. Soul Jacker pt. 1: The Eels
12. Bring It On Home: Led Zeppelin (Awesome)

Thinking to the not to distant future and knowing how long it could take me to complete my task I started the day tying BWO’s to Minnesota Public Radio. I listened to news and then set the ipod to random tunes to finish the afternoon. 

I tied these BWO’s in size 18 with two different types of tails. I personally think the Micro Fibbet tails look better but the hackle fiber tails  take me less time. I am planning on testing both under semi-scientific conditions to determine which I like better, and I guess I will let the trout weigh in on the subject as well.

I must admit I was reluctant to start these due to the fact they arn’t as easy for me but it needed to be done and I’m fairly pleased with the end result. I used a razor blade to demolish an old dozen I didn’t approve of. Keep your hook eyes clear, I did not on my previous attempts.

Things to note: Use the smallest amount of dubbing, I really think its better to add some more after the fact, especially the dry fly dubbing, it tends to clump. Work on tying in your hackle, I find that having it at the correct angle with relation to the hook shank helps keep the fibers neater when palmering. Buy quality hackles…they are worth it.

Working on dry flies is working my tying skills and I think one major area I’m having issue with is the hackle portion of most dries. I have been working with capes and necks not the pre-sized expensive hackles I see in shops/internet. I found this hackle gauge a while back and never printed it off, tonight while trying to tie para-bwo’s I decided I needed to print it out and check to see. I did so and used a bare size 14 dry fly hook to compare the measure on the gauge and it was pretty much spot on. So I pose the question between the two BWO’s seen in the pictures below. Is the size 14 the right size or does it look too big? Should I tie the para’s in size 16? Does the size matter that much with this particular fly or should it matter more with the non-Para dries? Oh, and forgive the poor tail position on the size 16 BWO, I wish I would have noticed that before I took the shots. Oh well…

After rooting around in a few of my favorite spots from last season I found a few has two or more varieties of Baetis(BWO) nymph. One of which stood out to me and as such I’ve tied essentially a Hare’s Ear nymph with a different color body and wing case. I tried to tie these as close as I could to the original size of the nymph and I think I came pretty close, next sample I get I will compare. I decided to dub this fly the Yeller Belly Baetis. So here it is: 

The Yeller Belly:

• Hook: #16-18 2xLong Nymph
• Thread: Yellow 8/0
• Tail: Lemon Woodduck Fibers
• Rib: Silver SM Ultra Wire
• Body: Yellow/Pale Yellow Dubbing Mix
• Wing Case: Pearlecent Krystal Flash
• Thorax: Yellow Dubbing

The Swimmers

The Darting Swimmers Families Baetidae, Siphloridae and Metretopodidae.

The two main species found in S.E. MN are two forms of the ever popular BWO. We have the Baetis and the Plauditus punctiventris. These are both found in the Baetidae family when identifying these nymphs from the other two families size is the best indicator. Siphloridae and Metretopodidae fall into the Large Swimmers while Baetidae fall into the much smaller size category. All have gills on the abdomen sections 1-7. One more overall comment about the Swimmers, they are the most varied group in the mayflies and emerge in cases all year round based on water temperature. One will find swimmers in almost every stream.

Little Blue-winged Olive (Plauditus punctiventris) 20-22 Pale yellow olive Late June-Oct.

In Hatches 2 this is listed as Pseudocloeon anoka but has changed since publication. These are still swimmers and so they will have similar nymphal traits to the other swimmers but one quick way to distinguish these from other Baetis is the tail. Plauditus punctiventris has only two tails while Baetis has three, also the abdomen is thicker on these nymphs. These nymphs are 4-5mm in length, I’m noting this size for my own reference. These nymphs will most likely crawl on grass or other items to get out of the water during a hatch. They are less likely to swim to the surface and then hatch. Fish downstream of extensive weed beds.

Blue-winged Olive (Baetis) 16-22 Grayish olive to dark olive March-May & Sept.-Oct.

These nymphs will be found in underwater foliage. The slender bodies as well as legs make them ideal for swimming through aquatic plant life. The baetis nymphs have three tails like most other but the center tail is much shorter than the outer two. Note that the baetis will emerger early in the season and late in the season. One thing I’m finding is that the exact species of Baetis is not listed and as there are several this will be a task for me this coming year to determine which exact species inhabit the waters around me. The greatest numbers of these nymphs are found in alkaline waters with a ph. of 7.5 or greater. Hatching will occur between 11am and 4pm in March-April when water temp exceeds mid 60′s. Typically one will see these on overcast days and as a general rule overcast provides some of the best BWO fishing.