July 1, 2010

Not the Hog we were looking forWe wait for the hex season with hopeful anticipation. Occasionally reality proves to be equal to our expectations. Such was not the case (again) this year. I won’t say that I worked overly hard at hex fishing this year, but I did give it a decent try. With the brown drakes coming a full two week early this year, I suspected that the hex hatch (and spinner fall) could be a challenge to time correctly.

Just about the time I expected to find hex on the riverside windows of my home (12 days after the first drakes appear), we got hit by a prolonged cold front. Only one hex fly showed up when expected. The next day none. The next day none. By the middle of June, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get my waders wet. I spent a few days chasing the typically sporadic hatch on the Maple, and found it typically sporadic. Not many bugs on the water, but I did manage a 12-inch brookie. Maybe I’d fare better on the Manistee.

One fly shop says look upstream . . . another fly shop says look downstream. A cabin owner says he hasn’t seen ‘em yet. Got a partial hatch here and a mini spinner fall there. Here a bug . . . there a bug . . . but no where is there a lot of bugs. Well, I guess it’s fun just to be on the river with some guys you enjoy and respect. We did manage to drift our fly over a few “teeners”, but no real hogs.

Muddler Eating 16-erBut drifting hex flies isn’t the only game in town. Remember the adage: If the hex spinners don’t fall, feed ‘em mouse meat! Dragging mouse patterns across the surface did manage one 22-incher, and salvaged an otherwise uneventful night.

Then, if it’s cloudy, drizzly and overcast during the day, pound the banks with streamers. There’s more than one way to skin a brown trout!

Now the “dog days” are upon us. To me that means either hopper fishing by day, or mousing at night. But, being the streamer freak that I am, I won’t pass up those cloudy, drizzly, overcast days, either. As long as the river temps are below 70F, guess where I will be!