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brodhead

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 8:09 am
by lukenic
fished the brodhead with my son saturday evening. he caught 2 on a rapala. one was a small wild brown around 6 or 7 inches. looked awesome.

saw consistent but sporadic rises from 6:30 til dark. but didn't see much coming off? tried a parachute adams and sulfer with no takes. finally put on a size 18 blue winged olive around 8 pm and got 2 browns. very surprised to see so little bug activity. any explanations?

Re: brodhead

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 12:15 pm
by Drossi
I fished the bushkill yesterday morning. Some sporadic caddis hatching but nothing much going on early there either. I did get 3 on a march brown wet fly. I surmise that the cold front that came in overnight on Saturday shut things off some.

Re: brodhead

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:09 pm
by Rusty Spinner
Aquatic insect hatches are not something that is steady throughout the hatch for any given mayfly or caddis (or stonefly). Some days are better than others. Also, this is mid June, so hatches won't begin until right at dark and extend into darkness. The type of rise form tells you everything about what is hatching. Slashy rises are trout feeding just under the film. We see this with both caddis and mayflies. The quintessential head popping out indicates trout feeding on mayfly duns. The very subtle sips are likely mayfly spinners or spent caddis. My guess is because you weren't seeing many hatching bugs but were seeing "rises", they were feeding on spinners which ride flush in the film and are already dead. Study the water closely to see what is on the film if they are rising but you don't see bugs in the air. Could also be ants or flying ants. Only close observation can tell you what they are eating.

Re: brodhead

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:44 am
by lukenic
thanks for the details. barring seeing what's in the film i guess it's trial and error? does the time of the year and stream you're fishing help narrow the options?

Re: brodhead

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 12:23 pm
by Drossi
lukenic wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:44 am
thanks for the details. barring seeing what's in the film i guess it's trial and error? does the time of the year and stream you're fishing help narrow the options?
It all else fails I'd try a soft hackle wet fly. My 1st shot would be to fish it in the surface film using an upstream presentation, like fishing a dry fly. That may entice fish feeding on spent spinners in the surface film. Failing that I'd move upstream and swing the soft hackle in front of the risers on a tight line to imitate emerging insects.

Re: brodhead

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 1:23 pm
by lukenic
thanks for the advice but you're opening a can of worms (i get it, poor choice of words on here for some). no experience with wet flies. time to do some homework.

Re: brodhead

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 3:00 pm
by garden hackle
lukenic wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 1:23 pm
thanks for the advice but you're opening a can of worms (i get it, poor choice of words on here for some). no experience with wet flies. time to do some homework.
“Can of worms”, now you’re talking my language.

Re: brodhead

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 3:44 pm
by lightenup
Drossi wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 12:23 pm
lukenic wrote:
Wed Jun 13, 2018 9:44 am
thanks for the details. barring seeing what's in the film i guess it's trial and error? does the time of the year and stream you're fishing help narrow the options?
It all else fails I'd try a soft hackle wet fly. My 1st shot would be to fish it in the surface film using an upstream presentation, like fishing a dry fly. That may entice fish feeding on spent spinners in the surface film. Failing that I'd move upstream and swing the soft hackle in front of the risers on a tight line to imitate emerging insects.
Do the same with an iris caddis...if the soft hackle doesn't work...