5 Hatches to FF before you die

[afishinado]

Good list to start.

There are others, though....


https://flylordsmag.com/5-hatches-you-must-fish-before-you-die/?fbclid=IwAR3A9huy7f3ryiTUB_maZhnc-zz7kBI3h6jrMVabvH3h7ecQ3jVfwN8OS-g

 

[JeffK]

Good article. I've fished all those hatches but only had awesome fishing on the green drakes. That is likely because the streams with green drakes are nearby and I can hit the peak. First time I hit them great was at Cairns Pool. Fishing in the evening when a cloud of coffin flies as tall as the Rt 17 bridge appeared. Thought it would be great. Oddly enough everyone but me and two old timers stayed after dusk. When they dropped every fish in the pool was up and it was crazy fishing for large fish.

Salmon flies, Rocky Mtn mothers day caddis and hexagenia are something I traveled to and didn't quite hit the peak. It's tough to hit hatches when I travel - I'm usually a little too late or to early.

Locally, I have had crazy fishing with Hendricksons, sulphurs, and olives.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

The Mouse Hatch in New Zealand, Alaska, or Kamchatka. GG
Dream big or go home.lol

 

[Acristickid]

3 of the 5 here


For PA specific- I’d say your going to want to fish Grannoms, Sulphers, Green Drakes, tricos

 

[dryflyguy]

For PA, my favorites:

BWO's, Hendricksons, Grannoms, Sulphers, and Green Drakes.

Although not an aquatic hatch, the cicadas would trump all when they're around IMO
Terrestrial fishing on steroids, I guess.

 

[wbranch]

Been there, done that, might not make the next cicada emergence considering I'm 78.

IMO every serious dry fly guy should experience a week of Tricos on a western tailwater as well as the Apple caddis on the Delaware system.

 

[dryflyguy]

Matt:

I'm kinda surprised you mentioned the apple caddis.
While it is quite a spectacle, I've never done very well with it.
One hatch where the fish usually seem to being taking subsurface - or something else - in my experience.

Speaking of the Delaware, the Hendrickson hatch there has always been bucket list quality IMO.
Although I've seemed to have a hard time hitting them up there lately

 

[Bamboozle]

My best Green Drake experiences have been on small Class A streams in Potter & Tioga.

It amazes me they hatch on just about every stream up there in less than blizzard quantities on the smaller streams which makes for much better fishing IMHO.

I remember one night on a small Class A feeder to YWC when I caught brookie after brookie from 8"-10" in a couple of holes before a nasty thunderstorm came through and blew everything out. I'm not a counter, but in about an hour, I managed at least 15 or more fish before the storm chased me off the water.

Another hatch I'd add to the list is the White Fly although for me, I'd rather be on the Susquehanna chasing Smallies with a mile of water all around me.

There is nothing like fishing in total darkness until after midnight with trains roaring by, two zillion fish coming up everywhere, White Flies in my eyes, nose & mouth, huge Dobsonflies zipping all around and landing on you if you turn on a headlamp...

Only thousands of bats flying past my head during a Green Drake hatch on Penns rivals that exhilaration... ;-)

 

[Canoetripper]

I haven't done this yet while visiting my parents in Colorado. I just haven't been there at the right time.

There is a very impressive Green Drake hatch on the Frying Pan River, and there are big trout there from the Mysis Shrimp that the gorge on from dam releases from Reudi Reservoir.

 

[dryflyguy]

Canoetripper wrote:
I haven't done this yet while visiting my parents in Colorado. I just haven't been there at the right time.

There is a very impressive Green Drake hatch on the Frying Pan River, and there are big trout there from the Mysis Shrimp that the gorge on from dam releases from Reudi Reservoir.

I fished the drakes there on a recent trip to CO.
In september!

Never expected to see them that late in the year, and I was caught without any imitations.
Luckily, they weren't very picky. And I was able to catch some fish using a slate drake

 

[Bocianka1]

Every year My father, brothers and a few friends fish the Green drake Hatch in Potter County. We have traditionally gone up for a week that overlaps the first weekend in June. The past 2 or three years i feel like we've missed the hatch by a week or two based on conversations with some of the campground staff. As my father has started to age, i have taken over the planning of this trip. I'm considering bumping up the trip two weeks earlier to try and have better luck fishing the hatch. maybe go up around May 18th.

I'm looking for input. Any of you guys with experience in this area think this would be a better time? I know we risk having slightly colder weather, but i'd like to see us catch the hatch in full bloom a few more times while my dad can still get out and fish it. It's an awesome hatch to fish and i can totally see why it's on most people's short list.

 

[Bamboozle]

Bocianka1 wrote:
Every year My father, brothers and a few friends fish the Green drake Hatch in Potter County. We have traditionally gone up for a week that overlaps the first weekend in June. The past 2 or three years i feel like we've missed the hatch by a week or two based on conversations with some of the campground staff. As my father has started to age, i have taken over the planning of this trip. I'm considering bumping up the trip two weeks earlier to try and have better luck fishing the hatch. maybe go up around May 18th.

I'm looking for input. Any of you guys with experience in this area think this would be a better time? I know we risk having slightly colder weather, but i'd like to see us catch the hatch in full bloom a few more times while my dad can still get out and fish it. It's an awesome hatch to fish and i can totally see why it's on most people's short list.

No matter when you fish and no matter what the hatch. hearing "you should have been here last week" isn't uncommon.

I don't know about the rest of the State or other streams, but I used to go up to Potter over Memorial Day Weekend and almost always saw Green Drakes, albeit sometimes lighter than other years depending on what day Memorial Day fell on, but they were there regardless.

 

[RLeep2]

Depending on where you are willing to fish it, there is often enough timing elasticity in the drake hatch in the NC mountains that if you go any time between 5/18-20 and say 6/5-8, you'll run into bugs somewhere. If you prefer bigger water like Kettle and the First Fork, go earlier in this range. But if you're happy fishing the drake on YWC size water and smaller, you can do just as well going later in the date range. All this to simply say that it is pretty hard to completely miss it so long as you're destination-flexible.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

Seeing the sheer number and size of the drakes and other insects hatching simultaneously on Penns is a must see for flyfisherman, even if you don't fish or the catching isn't productive. The drake hatch wont be as heavy in other parts of ncpa, but its likely more fishable with a lot less pressure. I caught fish on drakes or saw fish rising to drakes on small to medium sized streams last year in clinton, lycoming and potter co spanning from mid may to late june.

 

[Canoetripper]

Back in the early 1980's I drove across the Susquehanna River from Perry to Dauphin County during the White Fly hatch. I could barely see. My windshield was covered with insects.

I also fished the Elk River in West Virginia during the Sulfer hatch. That was an impressive hatch as well.

 

[wbranch]

Dryflyguy wrote;

I've never done very well with it. One hatch where the fish usually seem to being taking subsurface -

This is very true. At most periods of the emergence 99.5% of the trout are not eating the adults floating and flitting on the surface. They are eating the ascending pupa as it rises in the water column. Probably many pupa are eaten in the depths and we see no surface disturbance. I have a very good adult imitation but always trail a pupa behind on 6" of fluorocarbon.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

Pick any hot summer day in July or August and check out the bikini hatch on the lower Madison River in MT if you’re in that part of the country.

 

[wildtrout2]

mt_flyfisher wrote:
Pick any hot summer day in July or August and check out the bikini hatch on the lower Madison River in MT if you’re in that part of the country.

Yep, that hatch usually accounts for a lot of rises. :-D

 

[maxima12]

Slow Poke's, you will never see it unless you fish! Give it a try! Start in Pa. and fish the world! World starts in Pa.----A fact. Get it right in Pa. and become the best of the best, if not better!

Mother thank you. I will add, one more to this, a face, a promise and a really good guy!

JOHN ARWAY--- How you you!

John, your pictures , letterhead and wonderful note is posted in my house for the wisest and best. Forget, i guess not. 50 year ann. from susq. t. u. All the best and escorted by friend Ken Hunter!

Yep---big and bold night----may i add, Bruce Smay, Robert Rinn gone now. Lot more too! I have lost so many friends it is hard to live! But for now , i try to live, in a manner to hihglight their life.

Norm Shires, Fran Betters, George Harvey, Lee Wulff, Bob Mc Cullough, Inky Moore, Jack Beck!

I earned it. I was there! You all forget love, not me!

What i am trying to say is---------"THANKS".

How can you keep going without respect for the good!

Study-----if you want to be good, Money will never make you best. Trade for good or loot!

Yep---- the life---Maxima12

 

[maxima12]

Out in Idaho, on i guess if i remember right. Ashton, Henry's fork of the Snake River. Salmon Fly in mid to late May!

Big orange body Stonefly about 2 inches long. Wow, wow, wee!

I guess below the bridge, 20 inches or more to keep! Kept throwing them on the bank, for some Mexican families i met. Share Croppers, Maxima12 always finds the best! Made friends with some of the nicest people you want to meet. Better than me, they had it in gear! Nice, beautiful family, honest, secure, hard working and the way we should all be!

I feel good about the fish i gave. Lot's of witness to this. I feel better about, good! Than ever bad about the take! Took a little for a whole lot more!

Msxima13-1