The last two days have been less than desirable weather-wise. Of course, as a fly fisherman I start thinking about BWOs during inclement weather. The dreary conditions got the bugs going and the fish have responded enthusiastically (see video above). The surface of the water was carpeted at times with the little mayflies. Today, the hatch started in earnest while it
was raining and this made it even harder for the bugs to take flight. The fish were feeding with abandon, completely oblivious to any potential dangers around them.Yesterday was the better day as far as numbers of fish caught, but both days will be remembered for a long time to come. This was by far the largest and most concentrated hatch I've witnessed here in Tennessee. At times, I felt like I had been magically taken to the Firehole in Yellowstone where I have experienced similar blizzard hatches.
These bugs were everywhere and were being eaten by these...
The best two fish took my softhackle dropper instead of the dry fly offering...
The monotony of clouds and rain was broken when the sun made a late afternoon appearance, lighting up the opposite bank...
Howm many tails does that mayfly have? BWO only have two tail:)
ReplyDeleteMost of the bugs were not the Baetis that are more commonly known as BWOs but from what I can gather, they were most likely some species of Attenella. These bugs do have three tails and are also commonly referred to as small BWOs (or Slate-Wing Olives). I'm not enough of an entomologist to be sure about this so any further ideas would be welcome...
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