What's the best dry fly fishing experience you've had? A blanket caddis hatch? How about a PMD hatch during a drizzly afternoon in July? Or a Green Drake hatch? Big gaudy hoppers or stone flies? All of these experiences can build to epic proportions, and until recently I thought I had seen the best of the best. Last week I landed my boat onto one of my favorite rocks. My clients unloaded and began throwing their oversized size hair and hackle stone fly imitation into a pod of exceptionally aggressive Redsides. One drift, two drifts.... ten perfect drifts through meat of the best water without a take, left both my client and I feeling rejected. Determined to catch at least one of these fish, and not to let my guest down, I focused on the surface of the water to see what the trout where consuming. I spotted caddis, PMDs, and of course stoneflies, but none of them where being eaten. Then I saw one... I first thought it was an adult Green Drake, but it was just after 10 am, and the drakes hadn't been hatching until 3 pm. Then I spotted another one, and another one. There was something distinct about them, their wings where transpearant... SPINNERS!
Once the code was unlocked, the fish fell to imitations. A big, size 12, purple haze was the fly of choice. It proved itself worthy landing 8 fish in no more than 30 minutes.
I will never forget those 30 minutes and will always be on the look out for them again.
