Today’s warmth brought out the bugs on the McKenzie. Specifically the Grannom Caddis emergence. The numbers of bugs between Belinger and Hayden Bridge in the 12-2pm time frame was simply shocking. Watching your fly or indicator on the surface amidst this madness was “dizzying”. Looking below the surface one could see millions of pupating caddis in the water column. Before the hatch we caught some decent fish nymphing with Golden Stone Nymphs and Possie Buggers. During the maddening hatch fishing was tough for us. Nymphing deep yielded a few grabs but we were unable to target consistent rising fish that were not recently released steelhead smolts. Swinging wets proved fruitless during the hatch but worked later in the day after the hatched seemed to diminish.
For more information on the Grannom Caddisfly emergence there is an excellent chapter the the wonderful book Bugwater by Arlen Thomason. Arlen goes into great detail about the life cycle of Caddisflies and discusses in-depth the Grannom.
Today’s hatch was very intense and this year we have seen more than a few of these immense Grannom emergences. The first warm (65+degrees) sunny day mid-March or April after a colder period of weather tends to spurn this hatch. Trout can really get going on Grannom Caddis along banks and current edges where they get funnelled to feeding fish.
The river is going to be in great shape and we are looking at a very nice weather forecast for the later half of the week and weekend. Caddis, March Browns and Golden Stone nymphs continue to be the best producers. Enjoy–CD
I rode my bike over Hayden Bridge yesterday at about 1:30 and had to cover my face. I must have swallowed more flies than most of the fish in the river.