Incredible Number of Bugs, Big River

[Sylvaneous]

I was floating the Allegheny for smallmouth today. Fishing was poor, but I was amazed at the number of mayflies either as dead, spent spinners, duns just sitting there and duns hatching. At one point, there were Paralepts on the water as duns and spinners at a Trico density level. Lots of spent Brown Drake spinners. The water was dotted with cornutta/drunella BWO duns with their smokey dark wings. Isonychias were on the water and hatching out from the middle of the river.

I wish any fish cared. The minnows weren't eating the flies and so the bass weren't out eating the minnows. But the fecundity of that river is amazing to me. And some people, but a diminishing few, still think the river isn't clean.

And in the 5 years that i lived in Warren PA where the river comes out of a dam at a temp I have never seen go over 72 degrees, I never saw a trout rise. I'd stand along the river and watch swarms of brown drakes drift by and never a rise. But the mayflies alone are great to see.

Syl

 

[Dave_W]

Warm water rivers can be stunning to trout guys when they see the number of mayflies and other aquatics that hatch on these rivers. And right along with this often comes dissapointment at the apparent lack of rising activity (bass do rise to hatches). Hatches of this magnitude would have a trout stream boiling, but WW rivers are not as predictable.

The Susquehanna is much the same.
The mayfly hatches are tremendous and sometimes literally need to be bulldozed off bridges. The heaviest early little brown stonefly hatches I've ever seen were also on the Susky and Juniata.

I do a lot of rock rolling and seining in the Susky, Juniata, and Potomac. The results often make me think I'm looking at Penns Creek. It's really striking.

 

[krayfish2]

2 days ago, house was blanketed in Cahill duns. After yesterday's storms, I had thousands of TINY olives on the house. I'm talking #24 and smaller. Susky is a bug factory at times