The Hatch

All you can eat egg buffet

I was able to spend the last few days on the water. I decided to target wild browns and my travels took me a few hours from home. Day 1 was hit or miss. There were times when the bite was great, pods of 8-12 fish came to the net willingly, then I would go an extended amount of time with only a few fish. Finding shallow riffles was key, the fish seemed to be really stacked up in them. The other hot spot was the calm eddies near the bank. The Little Black Stones were coming off pretty well and I think the trout were trying to intercept them near the bank. The water was still pushing making Tight Lining hard at times, but it was still very productive.

Bloated after an all day buffet

Another solid egg eater 

I decided to return to the same stream on Day #2, opting out of my local watering holes. I was very fortunate to hit the Hatches of all Hatches. THE SUCKER SPAWN. Yep, that's right, my new favorite hatch of the year. Hundreds of these fish were finding refuge in shallow water and doing their thing to reproduce. The trout were GORGING themselves on fresh sucker spawn. If you could locate the areas where the Suckers were congregating, you could find dozens of willing trout to inhale your fly. I must say I never hit the spawn like this, the fishing was fantastic. The trout were big and bloated.....looked like they went to Denny's for an all day all you can eat buffet. Some sections fished better then others. I found pods of suckers and no trout, other pods of suckers that attracted the majority of the trout in an area. When you located these areas, it was a slaughter. The sucker spawn happens at different times each year, this year it's later then usual. So if you have a favorite stream and it supports Suckers.....now's the time to go out and find where they are spawning, you won't be disappointed in your journey.