Mothers Day Caddis Grab : Pre Runoff Special

Something I needed to remember, something important, something annual, something with flowers. That kind of lingering feeling plus the warm weather of May afternoons can only mean one thing: Its almost Mothers Day. This means a special BBQ with family is fast approaching and the high water of runoff looming close behind it. But before the Bitterroot turns to mud and Rock Creek gets scary-big there is a special bonus hatch to tide us over til June Salmonflies: The little buzzing balls of energy that are Mothers Day Caddis. These hotrods of the insects world will make their seasonal appearance skittering across the river and drive the trout crazy.

Not much technical to fishing this hatch. Bushy caddis patterns in gray/dark green #12-#14, 3x tippet to handle the smashing takes, and a little late spring drive to get a few more fish to the net. Hatch times will be afternoonish and takes will be aggressive, like the fish know they are chasing their last meal for awhile. Heading out of town for a Missouri tailwater weekend is no option for them, they will want all the instant protein they can get. Another nice aspect of this hatch is you can be a little sloppy with the mending: Caddis are so active on the water that a little drag on your fly won't put the fish off their feed.

Sweet Adipose Fin

This is also when we see the last few March Browns of the season stagger to the finish line. While these happy helpless mayflies have been around for a few weeks the fish will continue eating them well into May. March Browns are everything that fishermen love about fishing dryflies and mayfly hatches in particular. They have a concentrated hatch time ( 130pm - 3pm most days ) during which the fish unanimously know that "it is time to eat dry flies now". A whole run full of fish feeding greedily on those tasty sailboats is the best sight in the world. They are the perfect size (#14 usually) that toes the line between easily seen and ultra ninja-sneaky, so you can see the damm thing while also not throwing a giant in-your-face stonefly to back-eddy sippers. Appropriate fly for situation is dry fly angling 101.

All this leads me to thinking the perfect gift for the upcoming holiday would be a dozen or so caddis and mayflies stuck into the Mothers Day bouquet! Then again probably not. I might have to mothball that idea until Fathers Day. . . .