Drakes...Lot's of'em!

Wild Brown ate a Brown Drake Cripple

Conditions don't always pan out for us on the Lamoille during Brown Drake time.  Generally this hatch coincides with water temps that often excede 70 degrees and there have been several years that we would sit on the bank,watching the massive mayflies fill the air, hoping that the river will dip below 70 at least for a few casts.  This year is a totally different ball game with cool, above average flows.  Last night we snuck out by my house in Hyde Park and were welcomed by massive amounts of Brown Drake spinners.  Some doing their spinner dance, some sailboating down the river and some random cripples that were unable to leave the surface of the water.  For a while it was hard to dial in what the fish wanted.  It seemed obvious with all the Drakes out and about, but very few were on the water and the fish looked as though they were keyed in on emerging caddis.  I had one missed fish on a caddis pupa, but mostly we picked up fish on Brown Drake cripple imitations on the surface.  Just before dark, the bug activity picked up and we had a variey of march browns, sulphurs, tan caddis and brown drakes buzzing about.  Then like a light switch the air got a bit cooler, the bugs dissappeared and fish stopped feeding on top.

Today, I fished a small stream in the Lamoille Valley with a raw beginner.  Although being a bit high, this stream was in prime condition but few fish were willing to play.  We threw several different presentations into the mix, but a prince under an indicator was all that could draw strikes.