Caddis quest

Hoping that the general feeling that hatches are behind schedule due to the cool, wet spring I decided to head for a small higher-elevation lake to try to catch some sedge action yesterday. Fran said that it was supposed to "blow 30 to 50", but I figured "What the heck" and took a chance. I wasn't disappointed!

I took Spratley and dragged the boat 30 km on pavement then 10 km up a rough, rocky road to find the lake almost empty - there were two float-tubers and one cartop boat on the lake, and no one was on the shoal I intended to fish. To my delight I noticed some small sedges fluttering near shore and spotted the odd rise here and there. As you can imagine, I set up and launched the boat with a bit of urgency! Spratley did his best to help by attempting to get under the wheels of the Explorer and trailer and by jumping in and out of the boat once it was in the water. He gets excited about fishing, too!

The water was very clear - nice to see - and I was immediately into fish on a Chromie and on a sedge pupa. There were not many insects hatching during the middle part of the day and a couple of throat pumps revealed only sparse Daphnia and a small green/red bloodworm.

Despite the paucity of hatching bugs, a large (sz 6) sedge pupa on a clear intermediate line, stripped up the drop-off, elicited quite a few takes. Most of the fish were small, but from time-to-time the fish felt heavy and peeled line from the reel. Sadly (as usual...), the heavy ones came unbuttoned. All the fish I saw were chrome silver.

At about 4 pm or so a variety of sedges started hatching - from small ones about sz 16 to the odd large Traveller, and the fish started rising. I switched to a sz 12 No-hackle Elk Hair Caddis and the fish responded with vigour. Lots of them nailed it with aggressive takes. I switched to a sz 6 Mikulak Sedge when I noticed a Traveller Sedge hatching, and the action got even better. Sometimes I got a take every cast, although I only hooked some of them. As with the pupa, for some reason the heavy ones came unbuttoned after peeling some line from the reel. Oh well, as they say "The tug is the drug" and the ferocious take is the best part. That said, it's nice to land the big ones once in awhile!

At about 5 pm a storm threatened to move in. There was a bit of lightning and lots of thunder on the horizon and the sky darkened in the East. The sun was still mostly shining in the West. Of course I didn't go in other than to grab a rain jacket, 'cuz the sedges were hatching and I was catching all sorts on dries! Happily, other than a sprinkle of rain and a bit of wind, the storm passed me by.

At about 7 pm the hatch was over and the fish stopped rising. Both Spratley and I (mostly Spratley) were hungry, so I decided to pack up, crawl out on the rock-infested road, and head for home. On the way out I met a truck/camper/trailer combo coming in. It's a one-lane road, but luckily I only had to back up about 50 meters until I found a bit of a wide spot where we could pass. I sure wouldn't want to back up too far on that road, especially with a trailer!

Ah, the things we do for sedges...

Cheers! KW