They're here...

This hex spinner decided to land inside my wader bib.

Just like clock work, the arrival of the hex hatch here in central New York is an event you can depend on.  This summer is no exception.  After about a month of no trout fishing I went out this evening KNOWING the the hex spinners would be there, it was a beautiful thing.  I fished the last 30 minutes of daylight and into the evenings darkness. As I stood in the stream the trout erupted on the floating hex spinner like starved animals and the spinner fall was so heavy this evening that I was constantly being pelted by flying spinners. 

The hex spinner fall is special, to me. As I watch these browns explode on the spinner like it's their last meal I have to laugh, they are so enthusiastic, like they've waited all year for this fly and now it's Christmas!  Really makes me chuckle.  These trout are far from starved as most are in robust health, they're beautiful.  This evening didn't produce any really big browns, most in the 14"-16" range but I did sting a few that were pushing 20"+.



Nice healthy brown with a hex comparadun sticking out his gullet.

I have layed off the trout streams for the last month or so as the weather has been hot and water levels are very low.  The trout are jambed into small areas of refuge water so, for myself, I leave them alone.  We've finally been getting some rain locally that has brought some temperature relief to the streams and raised the level just a bit.  They're forecasting more heavier rain over the next few days so that should help things out. 

We really need a couple weeks of dependable rain fall.  The water tables are down and for me, a good water flow ensures a good steady salmon run and I'll be able to float my drift boat with clients.  Twice in the past 12 years the water has been so low in the Salmon River that I had to convert my float trips to wade trip.  The last time it was too low to float was in 2008.  That year the water was so low in the Salmon River that the DEC had to shock fish out of the deeper holes just to get enough fish to the hatchery to have at least a decent eggs harvest. 

As for this years salmon run you can feel anticipation for it building locally.  Everywhere the local businesses and guides are preparing for it, myself included.  I am trying something different this year when it comes to fly fishing for salmon.  I'll be road testing it as soon as we get some fish entering the river and if it works as good as I believe it will it should make for some happy clients.

I'll be posting again soon.

Tight lines,
Mark