The weather this past week has been very comfortable for us.  The cooler temperatures also help to slow the bug hatches. As a result the fishing this past week has been pleasantly better than average. Midafternoon to desk we have had good dry fly action fishing caddis with dropper rigs and taking advantage of the afternoon caddis and sulfur hatches. Finishing up today with a spinner fall, that has been running into the dark of the night.

Now for a little of more detail starting with oatka creek, we have been finding the most consistent fishing in the stock sections of the creek. Even though these trout were initially stuck, do not under estimate these fish. At this point, these trout are survivors. They know the gig. Careful presentations and matching the hatch is important for consistent success at this stage. This week we are seeing a darker wing caddis hatching, however we were still having good success with a light caddis in the same size. I suspect the reason for success was that the flies shape looked correct to the fish. Also we could see the fly easily on the water and fish the more efficiently. Sulfurs are consistently coming off in the evenings just before the evening spinner fall. Intermixed there has been late afternoon gray fox and March brown hatches up and down the creek. However keep in mind that these two bugs hatches sporadically through the system.  One pool may have bugs and the next one will have nothing happening. It is best to Fish through as much water as possible.

Spring Brooke –not much has changed here. Sulfurs continue to hatch both in the morning and afternoon, with spinner falls finishing up in the evening. Along with the sulfurs there is still a few olives and midges mixed in.

About the photograph–this is a American Merganser, Also known as a fish duck. Due to the hard winner we had an infestation of these ducks on our trout streams. Anywhere there was any open water these birds flocked in huge numbers. As result our wild trout populations took a hard beating from the fish eating ducks. A Merganser can eat a 6-inch long fish without any trouble.

Both Spring brook and Oatka trout populations got beat up severely this past winter. On Spring Brook my guess is that we lost little more than half of our fish population. What this means for us is that there still is a strong population of fish in Spring brook. However these are the larger more experienced fish, they know our game. We are going to have to fish smarter to catch these fish. The number of fish we are going to catch is definitely going to be down, however we are going to catch some real nice Fish. As for the numbers rebuilding in Spring brook, give it two years and the population will be back where it always has been.

Oatka Creek wild trout has had a few tough years. First, we had the drought of 2012where the population was greatly reduced and we lost a lot of the larger fish. Now add to that the hard winter we just experienced and all the pressure from the Merganser. For the trout on Oatka this is a double blow. However a couple of good summers and some spawning success here to drop population will rebound quickly.

This week we saw the sulfur hatch settling in become very consistent. However we are seeing the effects on the hard winter, on our local wild trout population. This has made the fishing on our wild trout streams very spotty.

Starting with Spring Creek, the supper hatch has finally shown itself this past week. The trout are starting to key in the sulfurs more every day. There still an olive hatch going on and also storms of midges. This past week the trout were feeding on the olives and the midges however the sulfur hatch will become the main feeding focus over the next few days.

The other area trout streams are also having a steady flow of sulfurs hatching. Along with the sulfurs there’s also Gray fox, March browns and at last count, 6 different caddis hatching. A light Caddis and a darker brown Caddis both in size 14 and 16 seem to be the most dominant.

Not;

Along with the normal full day of guided fishing. I will now be offering what I refer to as an evening hatch special. This is where we meet late afternoon and Fish until dark. Taking advantage of the evening hatches on the local trout streams.  I’ll be offering this at a reduced rate of $200 for two people, for the evening. This is an ideal opportunity to brush up on your techniques and help get orientated to the evening hatches and fishing if you are interested, Or have any questions please feel free to give me A call. Cell 585-233-0436