Caddis Chronicles

If you looked out the window this morning and saw the soft breeze gently moving the daffodils in the morning sunshine, you might have thought today is the day.  The angle of the sun is higher, it is brighter, and it will give you a sunburn; my face and neck can attest to that.  The robins have arrived from their winter digs, and the cardinals are in their full scarlet glory singing majestically in the shadows of the evergreens.  Everything looked and sounded right this morning, but the forsythia still sits with blossoms unfolded, green, and in no hurry to lunge into spring.  It was also cold this morning.  And the Hendricksons agree, refusing to bring their game until the environment suits their needs.  

And so it goes....looks like the first big hatch of the year is yet to come, and will be right on time. That means it will happen this coming week, most likely when most of us are at work.  It will start out as it usually does; a few flies coming off here and there, as though they are testing the air for the rest of the brood still water bound.  And then the next day there will be more, and the trout will have discovered the active nymphs and emergers, as evidenced by their flanks flashing in the water column as they turn to take the dancing, swimming nymphs.  You may even see a few trout rising to the duns as they drift, sailboat-like, along the water surface drying their wings and taking in their new surroundings. Finally, the day we have dreamt about during the short, cold days of winter comes, and the Hendricksons will hatch en mass, bringing every trout in the river up through the water column to feed on them.  And we will be there to greet them.

There's nothing like a good hatch and rising trout to bring out the little kid in even the stodgiest old fly fisherman.