BWO

It won’t be long. The temperatures will start to rise. This current cold air will leave. As I am typing this it is 20 with a wind chill of 2. Winter has set in.

 I am thinking about spring, the time of trout fishing magic. We will see the start of mayfly hatches. One of my most loved mayfly hatches are the baetis vagans. These small olives are usually from a size 16 to 22.

These flies can start the first feeding frenzy of the year on many of our trout streams. I have spent numerous days on Pennsylvania’s Spring Creek catching one trout after another trout during the baetis hatches. After months of fishing nymphs this is the time to break out your favorite dry fly rod and catch fish on the surface.  In addition to Spring Creek in PA, there are many other streams that boast this hatch as well. The Little Lehigh, Bushkill, and the West Brach of the Delaware are three streams that have excellent baetis hatches.

In New Jersey you will find these insects in abundance on streams like the Pequest and the South Branch of the Raritan. These rivers can offer great nymph and dry fly fishing during this hatch. I have caught many large trout on the Pequest when these little mayflies were hatching.

In Connecticut the Farmington River has excellent baetis hatches. This river has so many trout that during a good baetis hatch, I have seen some of the better pools with up to a hundred fish rising for these flies.  These trout are no pushovers and it’s hard to catch them without the proper imitation.  

Most of the rivers out west have this hatch as well. My friend Torrey and I went to Utah two years ago and fished the Green and Provo Rivers. We went there in anticipation of seeing awesome baetis vagans hatches, and we were not net down. Every day around mid ay we would start to see the size 20 sailboat like mayflies floating down the river. The fish always seem to positively respond to these flies. The fish that would not be actively feeding during the morning would all take up feeding lanes in the riffles.

One particular day comes to mind when we were on the Provo River. The baetis started to hatch there must have been over two hundred fish that piled into one riffle to feed on the nymphs, emergers and duns that floated by. For some unexplained reason the trout really notice this hatch and it almost always sparks a feeding blitz.  

Another time my friend John and I ventured out to Spring Creek in State College, Pennsylvania. We arrived there at around eight in the morning. Instantly, we had excellent fishing with BWO nymphs, like the wd40 and the compara nymph in olive brown. We had no idea what was in store for us later that afternoon.

Later that day the baetis started to hatch, and the fish were feeding more aggressively than I have ever seen on Spring Creek. There were thousands of flies floating down the creek, and it seemed like the trout ate every single one that floated by. We caught over one hundred fish during that hatch. It was one of my most memorable days of dry fly fishing.

When fishing the baetis hatch I like to get to the river around 8 or 9 in the morning. The nymphs really start to get active, and the fishing can be fast and furious, even in the cool morning. Some good examples of nymphs which represent the baetis are the WD40s, Pheasant Tails, micro mayflies and a baetis compara-nymph.

In the afternoon, when the hatch begins, I like to use flies that ride flush in the surface. I like to use comparaduns and snow show rabbit’s foot emergers.  For the body of these flies I find that a darker shade of olive is the best. I use bwo super fine or Al Caucci’s blend for dark olive.

These flies can hatch starting in February in some streams and can start as late as April in other streams. This hatch isn’t the hatch where you might catch your largest fish, but the hatch can help you can get the dust off your cast and back into the swing of things for the remainder of the season.