Contributed By: James Bradley
Reel’em In Guide Service
(706) 273-0764 mobile
Coming back home from a trip yesterday by one of our local orchards, the apple trees were coming to life with hundreds of blooms. Yes, everything is coming back to life. More outside chores to tend to like cutting grass, weed eating, repairing the landscape around the house, oh yeah, more fishing! On the last several trips late in the day, we are now seeing a good bit of caddis coming off, a sprinkling of mayflies here and there and some giant crane flies.
By the time you read this, it should be early May. With the rainbow’s spawn being well over, there is still excitement in the air. Yes, I’m speaking of dry fly time in the mountains! It will not be long until the water gets to a comfortable temperature for us to wet wade most mountain streams and retire those old worn heavy waders for nothing more than nylon fishing pants. I’m looking forward to that as much as the trout are looking up for some of their meals!
Trout only take about ten percent of their diet from the surface. The remaining balance is taken subsurface. But, the excitement of this time of year is having trout rise to dry flies. It’s undeniably an adrenaline rush! I cannot put into words the excitement you have when you see a monster rainbow slowly come up from the depths to inspect your offering, then slowly rise to tip it’s nose up to calmly sip it in or maybe even quickly turn away. I can feel that little rush already building up! Or what if it’s one of those little feisty wild rainbows that come up from the depths like a rocket ship heading to Mars to smash the fur right off the fly. Yes, it’s right around the corner, just a matter of days and counting. Many anglers will not fish at all until Mother’s Day, the sort of kickoff of our dry fly season. Although, I am no dry fly purist, I love the rush when catching trout this way as well as our clients! By the way, you do not have to wait until Mother’s Day to begin dry fly fishing as we are catching an occasional riser every once in a while.
The southern Appalachian Mountains offers a good variation of stream configurations until you get too low in elevation where most streams meander their way through the valley floors. The higher elevation streams as they decline downward or off the mountains will have what we call the classic riffle-run-pool sections throughout its course. These are what I refer to as mountain trout streams with many having wild trout.
Let’s examine the riffle of a stream and how it relates to rising trout. A riffle is a highly oxygenated bug generating area of a stream. This area is usually shallow with lots of cobblestones and wide with an occasional large rock. Many anglers overlook the riffle areas thinking due to it being shallow there will be no fish. Any depression, break or obstruction (like the rock) can create a great lie for a trout. A riffle area is where thousands and thousands of insects hatch off throughout a year. Look at a riffle as being a micro food plant. If you catch it operating (hatch coming off), you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the number of fish that may come into this area to feed. Let me put it this way, trout are in this area for one thing, to feed. You just have to figure out what fly or flies to be using.
Approach trout in the riffle areas from the downstream side. The faster choppy water (riffles) helps blur you from their sight. This fast water also cause trout to feed a little more carelessly. If you approach from the upstream side, the trout may easily identify you as danger and either flee or get lockjaw. Your approach is always one of the most important elements to catching them.
Your setup can be from a dry fly to hopper/dropper to tight line nymphing, and all work well in fast riffles at times. Dropper flies can be stoneflies, wets or emergers. Learn to high-stick this area as well. If you have to use an indicator, set your height correctly to compensate for the shallow water. Let Mother Nature tell you what to tie on. Look for any flying insects in this area and tie on a compatible fly in the same size then color. Dry fly time in the mountains has sprung, so get out there and tie one on!
If you are wanting to try fly fishing for the first time, want the watchful eye of a casting instructor to help improve your casting, or are just unsure of what you may be doing, we have several guides that teach the “Art of Fly Fishing”, entomology, stream reading, etc. We are a full time fly fishing guide service with professional guides from across North Georgia. So, what are you waiting for? Give us a call, We’ll Hook You Up!
Reel ‘Em In Guide Service is an Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide based out of beautiful Ellijay, Georgia. They have been offering their services to fly anglers since 2001. Their Special Use Permit for Guiding allows them on the Chattahoochee National Forest, they have licensed guides for North Carolina, offer over 7 miles of private trophy waters across Georgia, and offer drift boat trips on the Toccoa River and the Tuckasegee River in NC.