"Calling Fly Fishing a hobby is like calling Brain Surgery a job." - Paul Schullery
Photo by Thomas Ames Jr.
If there is a harbinger of Spring that will catch the eye of the winter worn fly fisher it is the little Taeniopterygidae Stonefly, known as the Early Dark Stonefly and/or Winter Stonefly. Get a day where the temperature hits the mid 40's and the sun is shining and they will seem to be everywhere. I live on the banks of a decent trout stream and on those mild days my porch, deck and fence posts will be covered with them as they seem to be content to just soak up the rays.
They are a major hatch as far as numbers go but a minor hatch as far as surface activity is concerned. First, they crawl out of the water to hatch in sometimes inhospitable conditions such as high, flooded rivers. Second, most freestones in our area will be pretty empty of trout until the stocking trucks arrive. Third, in the words of Thomas Ames, Jr. "Fish are more likely to rise to early stoneflies when adult females are ovipositing and when there are other insects, like midges or early mayflies, to draw them to the surface."
I'll always have some imitations with me especially on March days at the Y Pool and those imitations will represent this insect's life stages with the egg laying stage being the most important IMNSHO. This also gives me a chance to play with quill bodies which is a fly tying skill that is being lost to the flow of time.
The egg laying stage -
Size 20 dry fly hook
sparse blue dun hackle fibers
body - dark grey stripped quill (Sharpies work well on getting the right shade of color
Hackle - Grey or black
This high floater can be skidded across the surface to imitate egg laying stones and does a good job at imitating the Winter Caddis too!
Now, to imitate the insect as it is hatching you need pattern like the one developed by the great Art Flick. Just take the pattern above, ditch the stiff hackles for small, webby brownish hen hackles and use a brown quill for the body. This fly will be fished around the rocky edges of the shore (Y Pool) just beneath the surface. It can also be used to fish over the spent stoneflies.
This fly is more important for getting your spirits up than for bringing trout up. That's why I'm mentioning it!!
More Signs Of Spring
Anyone who grew up in New England can recognize the change of a season. The maple sap isn't flowing yet but there's activity in the sugerbush as workers lay out the lines and make sure that their boiling equipment is shipshape. I'd like to say that robins are a harbinger of Spring but they've been in the Valley all Winter but the doves seem early this year. The earliest I've seen a turkey vulture out here was the last week of February.
Because of Covid 19 we've cancelled Florida for this March so I'll be able to guide a bit earlier than last year. Pick a date and it's yours!!!
Ken
9 comments:
Like your Hornbergs! An underrated fly except in Maine! I tie them on #14 dry hooks (Mallard breast not flank feathers) and they are a good Caddis Pattern on top.
Anonymous,
Thank you (mallard breast works better than flank feathers).
It's strange that this fly has decreased in popularity over the years. Fish it on top and it's a caddis. Fish it below and it's an emerger or a baitfish. And it has the natural colors that you would expect of a natural creature and not like a rainbow warrior which looks like an earring!
Ken
I think our pastime puts us in a deeper connection with the change of seasons I always love to see the early signs of spring or that first red leaf in August, seeing stoneflies is one that really gets me over the winter hump so to speak, Ill have to tie up a few of these stone flies, on the squanny and other similar streams ive had good success early season with some stonefly nymphs one in particular is the red squirrel nymph im not sure what it represents but I fish it with stoneflies in mind and the fish can think what they want!
in terms of watching birds arriving - a few signs of spring are happening in the next few weeks.
1, big noisy flocks of male red winged blackbirds are gonna be showing up and scoping out their territory for the year
2, in the dusk and early morning the woodcocks will be peenting
3, owl babies
Also robins stick around all year but they cluster into bigger groups during the winter. Easier to find food. Smaller groups and solo robins are somewhat of an indicator of spring - but robins are sort of weird in that they really aren't as much of a sign of spring as people think. They just eat more worms in lawns in the spring because the lawn arent frozen, but, robins are in new england year round.
Unknown,
I lived in central Ma near the NH border and NEVER saw robins in mid February but would see them in eastern Ma especially near office parks with lots of buildings that gave projection from the wind and had a lot of ornamental trees that still had berries on them. I live in the CT River valley now and they ever leave.
Ken
Ken You should write a book!I enjoy your thoughts and comments more than John Geirach Thanks,Chet
Ken,
I live adjacent to woods and have seen robins in winter for a long time. I read some place that the winter robins come from Canada and go back there in spring. Maybe even a separate sub-species.
I would say in the last 6 or 7 years I have seen eastern bluebirds all winter long too. Like the robins, they eat the berries still on bushes in my yard. I put out suet for them and most years they are all over it. This year they seem to prefer the berries for some reason.
Regards, Sam
Sam,
Bluebirds, I see so few of them. I'd like to see more.
Ken
Chet,
More than John Geirach"? That says a lot. Thank You!!
Ken
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