Multiple Hatches, Trickle Hatches, and Keeping the Faith

This is the time of year when it all comes together in the trout realm. Water levels are more stable, water temperatures are in the zone, and the bugs are active. Trout are feeding whenever light levels allow; trying to pack on weight to sustain them through the lean winter months, and produce eggs for the fall or spring spawn.

This is also the time of year when you can expect multiple hatches of different bugs on any given day. Things can change in a hurry; what was hatching in the morning may be nowhere in sight that same afternoon. If the fish are selective, that fly that worked so well earlier in the day may get scant attention a few hours later. It is the adaptable and observant angler that makes the most of their time on the water.

This past weekend saw several species of mayflies hatching on foothills trout streams. The North Ram saw Green Drakes (Drunella), Pale Evening Duns (Heptagenia), and Western Light Cahills (Cinygma) hatching at some point throughout the day. Several Chloroperlidae stoneflies could also be seen fluttering about. All of these hatches are normally heavy at this time of year – drawing feeding fish to the surface with predictable regularity. Of course the recent floods have reduced the numbers of bugs present and the hatches seemed to be just trickling off. Few fish were seen rising with any semblance of consistency.

A Green Drake dun (Drunella doddsii) resting on stream side foliage shortly after emerging

But even this did not rule out the “match the hatch” approach to fly selection. You see, during heavy hatches trout will often form a search image of their target organism and key in on that one specific insect/life stage – ignoring all others (this is usually the most efficient way to feed during the maelstrom of heavy hatch conditions). Since the hatches this weekend were sparse, the trout were still forming search images of the insects hatching, and there were still some elements of selective feeding involved, but there was no advantage to keying in on any one specific hatch. All hatches were fair game and equally fed upon.

Under conditions like this the best way to trigger the trout to have a go at your fly is to simply show them something they recognize as food – something they are, or have recently been feeding on. On this weekend it was Green Drake emergers and parachute style Light Cahill duns that garnered the most attention. Nymphing in some of the deeper runs with a Green Drake nymph also proved to be quite deadly at times.

A North Ram River Cutthroat making a quick getaway

I am sure that searching type patterns and other random flies caught their fair share of fish this weekend. But if you prefer playing the odds, over random chuck and chance, match what’s hatching and have faith that your fly will out produce your favorite “go to” pattern.