Articles With the Tag . . . Cicadas

Late summer trout fishing in the Northeast can be challenging. But I’ve had good mornings by choosing cold water and staying open minded to the trout’s patterns and habits. Surprisingly, the best fishing has been found in deep, slow water that still has flow. The dry fly bite has been off, but the nymph fishing has been excellent.

I fished hard. I fished enough that I was almost satisfied . . . until the next morning. I walked and waded nearly a hundred river miles in those six weeks. I caught about eight-hundred trout, fished just one pattern, went through two dozen cicadas and never tied on another fly . . . until today.

Because it really is over.

I’ll miss the simplicity of shirt pocket fishing. I’ll miss facing off with some of the best and wisest trout in these rivers, day after day. I’ll miss the confidence in fly selection, knowing exactly what fly to use, all day long. And I’ll miss watching our selective, cautious wild brown trout turn into sharks for a two-inch top water fly.

And I’ll do it again . . . in seventeen years.

Get the cast perfect the first time, or the trout will pull themselves out of position to check your fly, then turn as it drags away. In these conditions you never get a second chance.

It’s technical, but fair. It’s unforgiving, but fun. It’s a new lesson at every undercut, and the whole thing’s over by 10:30 a.m

The truth is, I do not think you can create a hatch. But I’ve had enough fun through the years, testing the concept in key spots at specific times, that I keep doing it. Because every once in a while, those extra drifts have seemed to make a difference.

. . .But creating an ant hatch makes me feel like Brad Pitt (maybe like a dollar-store version). And it seems to spark the curiosity of a trout once in a while, just as it satisfies some odd curiosity in me. o.