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The schizophrenic weather this trout season has made fishing interesting to be sure.
Opening day produced a glorious spring day with bright skies and temperatures in the upper 70s. Less than a week later, I was on Penns Creek enduring a snowstorm with 30-mph wind gusts and the thermometer stuck at 34 degrees most of the day. Not exactly an idyllic trout-fishing scenario, but some friends had made the drive up from Philadelphia and really wanted to fish, so we braved the elements that day and even managed to catch a few trout.
On the positive side, stream flows continue to be good on most of the streams in our area. Given the choice, I always prefer having plenty of water during the early season rather than the low, clear conditions more typical of early summer. Water temperatures are also getting into the “normal” range for this time of year, so the fish are becoming more predictable, and hopefully, the insect hatches should appear on schedule as well.
Most avid fly anglers in the area are likely anticipating the sulphur hatch. These prolific yellow mayflies, sometimes referred to as pale evening duns, can produce some of the best fly-fishing opportunities of the year. Sulphurs typically start appearing on most of the better trout streams of our region around May 5-10, so, if they haven’t started hatching on your favorite stream, they should any day now.
As a fly fisherman, I have always considered sulphur time to be the perfect hatch. Being on a trout stream somewhere in central Pennsylvania during the middle of May can be as close to a slice of heaven on Earth as it gets. Impeccable weather, glorious scenery and eager trout are a combination that is hard to beat. But the sulphur hatch offers more than just ambience. The trout respond to all phases of the hatch – the nymphs, the hatching duns and the resulting spinner falls. Next, the hatch tends to be consistent and prolific enough to interest better-than-average fish. Finally, the hatch provokes good fishing for more than just a day or two. Sulphurs easily fill all those criteria.
At the beginning of the hatch, sulphurs typically begin emerging from 4-6 p.m. depending on weather and water conditions – earlier on overcast days and later on clear bright days. As the hatch progresses, the bugs will appear later and later in the evening, sometimes starting to hatch just a few minutes before dark. Inexperienced anglers often leave the stream too early and miss the late-evening action.
After the hatch has been in progress for a few days, the spinner fall will become an important component of the hatch. Spinners are the sexually mature form of the mayfly, and they return to the stream each evening to mate and lay eggs. Look for clouds of sulphur spinners hovering above a riffle at the head of a pool just before dark. Once the females deposit their eggs, they soon die and fall into the water by the thousands. Trout will line up in the current tongues below the riffle to gorge themselves on the spent female spinners. Repetitive, gentle rises are a sure sign the fish are working the spinner fall, which can last well after dark.
Fishing a sulphur nymph can be productive throughout the day during sulphur time. These mayflies occur in such great numbers on the streams on which they are present that the vast numbers of nymphs staging to hatch each day have the trout keying on them as well. Back in my younger days, I was a rabid nymph fisherman and would fish a sulphur nymph right through the evening hatch with devastating results.
Of course, the classic dry-fly fishing the sulphur hatch offers each evening is what excites most anglers. But when faced with a bounty of trout rising frantically all around, don’t make the mistake of thinking they will be pushovers. Be aware that during a heavy hatch your imitation is far outnumbered by the many natural insects on the water. Proper presentation in the form of a drag-free drift will still be vital for success. Try to concentrate on a specific fish that is rising regularly if possible, rather than casting randomly each time another trout rises around you.
Trout can also become quite picky during the sulphur hatch, especially on streams that receive a lot of fishing pressure. I’ve always found that carrying sulphur fly patterns in several styles, such as parachutes, comparduns or thorax ties, is a great help when dealing with super selective fish. If a trout refuses several good presentations with one style of fly, switching to a different style will often do the job. On occasion, I will have two rods with me, each rigged with a different pattern, so I can quickly switch back and forth between flies in order to tempt a difficult trout.