Anticipating the Hatch

Can you believe it’s almost May? I’m anticipating the hatch in the next few weeks as many insects begin their annual cycle. I’ve started to see a few PMDs on the river to go along with BWOs. It won’t be long before my favorite hatch of Green Drakes begin to hatch. How about Salmonflies and Golden Stones. The Deschutes River near me will be exploding with them in three weeks.

We’ve been to the river and haven’t seen many rising fish. Not unusual for April. But I’m hopeful whenever I get to the river. Here’s an exception…Dancingtrout coaxed this beauty to eat her IOBO Humpy.

When I’m not at the river, I’ve been tying flies as fast as I can, trying to catch up with my customer orders.

I just finished tying a large order of 168 Thunder Creek Streamers to imitate Sockeye Salmon fry for a customer in Alaska.

There are one dozen streamers in each bin…count ’em…14 dozen total. I can’t begin to tell you how many hours those flies took.

And if you are interested in how I tie them, here is a video from my RiverKeeper Flies YouTube channel where I demonstrate how to tie the fly:

I just finished a handful of Atlantic Salmon flies. A customer had asked for these, but ended up having someone else tie them because I couldn’t get to them fast enough. I wanted to tie the Munro Killer and Blue Charm for the experience. I’ll send him these flies because I’d never use them.

With those flies finished, I’m looking forward to tying a few trout flies for us and my customers. Those will include a few Sparkle Duns, RiverKeeper Soft Hackle Cripple, IOBO Humpy, and Improved F Fly. Of course, I’ll check my Salmonfly and Golden Stone box to make sure I’m ready.

So here are the flies I’ll be working on:

That’s a great start, isn’t it?

I’ll keep you updated on my progress…

Enjoy…go fish!