WTF? (Deschutes March Brown hatch)

[DFG]

I recently fished the Deschutes during a pretty big March Brown hatch with little success. Despite the number of naturals floating by, the fish weren't interested.

I tried again a few days later. The hatch was much lighter, but still no takers. I did see a few good-sized 'bows breaching like porpoises, but they weren't taking them off the surface. I didn't see any surface dimples though (other than rain). (Oddly, they were jumping in the direction of the flow, proving that fish don't always face upriver.)

At the time I suspected they were taking emergers. Does that seem right? What would you try in a similar situation? Do you have a favorite mayfly emerger pattern for the D?

 

[Crawbugger]

Swing a MB soft hackle and hang on. Or swing a crawdad pattern with a MB off the back. Money.

 

[Evan B]

I'm not a great trout fisherman but if I was casting what I thought was a match to the hatch and getting nothing, I'd probably try an emerger.

 

[Tom Butler]

I went through a long infatuation with the dry fly and your results were kinda typical of what I used to experience. I do better fishing under the hatch with nymphs. In situations like this I'll fish my beadhead hares ear deep and a softhackle (Partridge and orange usually) on the dropper higher in the column.

 

[Rob Allen]

I recently fished the Deschutes during a pretty big March Brown hatch with little success. Despite the number of naturals floating by, the fish weren't interested.

I tried again a few days later. The hatch was much lighter, but still no takers. I did see a few good-sized 'bows breaching like porpoises, but they weren't taking them off the surface. I didn't see any surface dimples though (other than rain). (Oddly, they were jumping in the direction of the flow, proving that fish don't always face upriver.)

At the time I suspected they were taking emergers. Does that seem right? What would you try in a similar situation? Do you have a favorite mayfly emerger pattern for the D?

Yes, I'd guess emergers.. try a soft hackle.

I experienced the huge hatch no activity on rock creek a few years ago. I saw all the bugs, got excited but no risers anywhere..

It happens..

 

[GAT]

The Willamette Valley rivers have significant MB hatches all the way through next month. I've ran into the problem with lots of adult MBs on the water and no interest from the trout. Weird. I've tried MB emergers with very limited success. A goldish brown traditional soft hackle sometimes works but other times, not so much.

What I have found to work during a an active MB hatch is a Parachute Adams and/or a Parachute Royal Wulff. The trout will ignore the genuine March Brown adults and attack the fake bugs instead. I read an article decades ago that mentioned if you can't match the hatch, try an attractor instead. That doesn't explain why the approach also works when the trout are ignoring the natural bug but often times, it's worth a try.

 

[clarkman]

What I have found to work during a an active MB hatch is a Parachute Adams and/or a Parachute Royal Wulff. The trout will ignore the genuine March Brown adults and attack the fake bugs instead. I read an article decades ago that mentioned if you can't match the hatch, try an attractor instead. That doesn't explain why the approach also works when the trout are ignoring the natural bug but often times, it's worth a try.

un-match the hatch...it works well and it works often. My favorite un-matching moment was years ago on Hat Creek during a blizzard trico spinner fall. I had the exact imitation that went ignored. Once I just put on a size 14 black ant, it was fish after fish (I had even changed from the 6x with the trico patterns to 5x on the ant).

 

[cedarslug]

This is one of my favorite flies of all time. Soft hackle wet flies are easy to tie, and materials can be easily substituted. I will tie these from 12-18 size hooks. I have found that the sparser the better, and I like maybe 2-3 turns of hackle. I will fish them on a dead drift, on the swing, or slowly strip them back to illicit a strike. If you want, you could add a little floatant, so the fly hangs low in the water. Good luck!

 

[mcswny]

In my experience location (especially winter/spring) is often more important than strength of hatch. If there’s no fish present, it doesn’t matter how dense the hatch is. I often find dry fly spots to be fairly consistent on the d. For example I have my winter BWO spot that if they’re hatching fish are rising. Where’s you could go 1/3 mile down river and even though bugs are hatching nothings rising.

 

[mcswny]

un-match the hatch...it works well and it works often. My favorite un-matching moment was years ago on Hat Creek during a blizzard trico spinner fall. I had the exact imitation that went ignored. Once I just put on a size 14 black ant, it was fish after fish (I had even changed from the 6x with the trico patterns to 5x on the ant).

This is often my answer on the Met as well, a black ant.

 

[GAT]

un-match the hatch...it works well and it works often. My favorite un-matching moment was years ago on Hat Creek during a blizzard trico spinner fall. I had the exact imitation that went ignored. Once I just put on a size 14 black ant, it was fish after fish (I had even changed from the 6x with the trico patterns to 5x on the ant).

I've had similar experiences with an ant pattern. ....especially if mini bugs (like tricos or tiny BWO) are hatching.

 

[RCF]

Yes, I'd guess emergers.. try a soft hackle.

I experienced the huge hatch no activity on rock creek a few years ago. I saw all the bugs, got excited but no risers anywhere..

It happens..

I like to fish about 1/2 mile above the hatch with an emerger or nymph. Works well on RC during salmon fly hatch too...

 

[Zak]

Here's my favorite ant pattern. I tie it in sizes 14 and 16.

Fly tying video: Steve Culton’s Drowned Ant Soft Hackle

By popular demand: You can find my original currentseams write-up on the Drowned Ant here.

currentseams.com

 

[Matt B]

Interesting discussion here. I--sadly--have not fished the D in far too long, but when I did more regularly, I had some of my most productive sessions bobber fishing a heavy prince nymph trailing a drowned cinnamon ant.

 

[SKYKO]

Partridge over olive or gray soft hackle down and across. Riffles into slicks or nervous water will often work in that scenario on the D

 

[PhilR]

un-match the hatch...it works well and it works often. My favorite un-matching moment was years ago on Hat Creek during a blizzard trico spinner fall. I had the exact imitation that went ignored. Once I just put on a size 14 black ant, it was fish after fish (I had even changed from the 6x with the trico patterns to 5x on the ant).

who are you, and what have you done with clarkman?

 

[East Coaster]

In my experience, porpoising risers are usually (but not always) taking spent spinners. That may be why they're ignoring the duns (the duns are a tougher target because they will be lifting off soon). It also fits with your observation that the porpoising fish were seen a couple of days after the heavy hatch day. They may not even have been MBs - could have been smaller spinners (small BWOs at this time of year might be a good candidate, as they would be dark and maybe not so obvious). Just a guess......

 

[JS]

By now that trout have eaten quite well and are pretty damn picky about what they’ll take off the surface. Many good suggestions here for sure.

 

[skyriver]

un-match the hatch...it works well and it works often. My favorite un-matching moment was years ago on Hat Creek during a blizzard trico spinner fall. I had the exact imitation that went ignored. Once I just put on a size 14 black ant, it was fish after fish (I had even changed from the 6x with the trico patterns to 5x on the ant).

Blasphemy! You fished 5x on Hat Creek? During a spinner fall? Oh wait...I forgot you're a musky fisherman.

 

[clarkman]

Blasphemy! You fished 5x on Hat Creek? During a spinner fall? Oh wait...I forgot you're a musky fisherman.

This was a long time before that!