Thank Santa for BWO’s
First, let me say sorry for the long gap between blog posts. The last few months have flown by and I have been focussing my time on the e-zine HookedNow I have been producing it along with Dave Hughes and Skip Morris. If you are curious you can go to http://hookednow.com and download a free issue. We publish the e-zine online with a new issue coming out every other month, six issues a year. But, enough about that. I hope in the future to add a new blog post once or twice a month. Thanks for checking in!
During this holiday season make sure you thank Santa for the blue-winged olive (BWO) or Baetis mayfly. I just fished the Deschutes River last week downstream from Maupin, Oregon, and thanks to our friend Baetis trout were rising and feeding. These little mayflies carry a big punch and without a doubt they are one of the most important insects in trout streams.
There have been literally hundreds of articles written about the little blue-winged olives of the genus Baetis, and no doubt several more will be written this winter and spring. With that in mind I don’t feel the need to go into all the fine details about their life cycle, or the large number of species that make up the genus Baetis, and the dozens and dozens of patterns that have been designed to imitate this little critter. Instead I just want to explain what unfolded on this recent trip and how you can expect something similar on many other trout streams throughout the West during the next few months.
Timing: It’s winter. The water is cold, the air is cold, so the timing of hatches will be mid-day. In this case the hatch started just a little after 1:00 and started tapering off around 2:30. By 3:00 everything was over. This is very typical of the timing of winter hatches: begin between noon and 2:00PM and last one to two hours.
The other characteristic of this hatch, and many other mayfly hatches for that matter, is that the duns don’t hatch at a continuous level of intensity, but tend to come off in waves. During this hatch the wave of duns coming off would last maybe ten minutes, then taper off to few to none for another ten minutes, which was followed by another wave of activity. I don’t know the reason for this up-and-down level of hatch activity, but as I said it is common during many mayfly hatches.
Fish feeding: Trout feeding activity closely followed the activity level of the insects. When dun activity increased there was a noticeable and obvious increase in feeding trout, then when dun activity dropped off, a similar drop in feeding activity occurred. This behavior is also typical of trout during most hatches. It doesn’t mean trout won’t take a fly between peaks in activity, but your odds of taking one then are definitely lower in most cases. However, sometimes, if the hatch is very heavy, you might have better success during the lulls in activity because there are fewer naturals on the water for your fly to compete with for attention. This is rarely if ever the case in the winter, however, when the number of duns on the water isn’t huge even during the peaks in activity.
Patterns & Tactics: It’s important to watch the rise forms of the trout to determine what stage of the emerging duns they are taking. This is critical as the trout often become quite selective to one particular stage, such as nymph below the surface, floating nymph in the film, partially emerged dun in the film, or completely emerged dun on top of the surface.
If you see duns floating then disappearing under a trout’s nose, well, then it’s clear that a surface pattern will be right. But more often than not the duns you see will float and float and float, while trout continue to make obvious surface disturbance. This means the trout are taking partially emerged duns in the film, or nymphs just as they reach the surface before they have started actual emergence.
Another clue will be the way trout disturb the surface. If you see their head just below the surface and then their dorsal fin either break the surface or nearly so, that is a clear indication the are feeding just below the film. If you see the nose of trout break or nearly break the water’s surface with no sign of a dun and no bubble left on the water’s surface, then it’s likely trout are taking emerging duns in the surface. That was the case for most of the trout seen during this hatch.
When trout aren’t taking the duns you’ll want to try an emerger pattern. One of my favorites for the small BWOs is a little CDC emerger. If it’s clear trout are taking duns then go for a dun pattern of your choice in the right size and color. A small CDC Harrop dun or simple Compara dun often due the trick, but there are many other patterns that also produce well.
No matter what fly you are using, if you are fishing to trout feeding on or near the surface you will want to present your fly gently and without drag. BWOs often hatch where the water’s surface is smooth and flat, where any drag practically shouts, “I’m a fake.” To help reduce drag extend your tippet to at least three feet with four feet often better. And because your patterns are small to tiny, at least 5x and often 6x tippet will be needed.
The other aide to a good drift is positioning yourself where your fly can be presented across the fewest current seams or changes in current. The surface of a stream never flows uniformly, but you can minimize the affect of changing currents by carefully selecting where you stand to make your cast. A reach cast can be a great tool to help reduce drag and get a good drift as well. And when presenting your fly don’t make a hard forward cast so your fly lands at the end of a tight leader. Instead allow your leader to land with some wiggles in it, producing slack and thus a longer drift before drag sets in.
So, thank you Santa for blue-winged olives and the great chance to catch trout with dries in December!
Watch video of fishing the BWO hatch click HERE