Still Waiting for Caddis

C’mon caddis, we’re ready for you! To date, only a few bugs have been spotted here and there. My windshield stayed clean during my drive along the Yellowstone River last night. The ups and downs of our Montana “spring” weather have kept the Mother’s Day Caddis Hatch from going off just yet. But is that about to change? Hard to say at this point with warmer days this weekend, then a cool stretch again next week. The good news is that the Yellowstone is likely to stay relatively low and clear through at least next weekend. But will the water warm up enough to really get the caddis popping? The river peaked at around 50 degrees yesterday, two or three degrees lower than typically accompanies the huge hatch. If you’re getting out this weekend, especially later in the day, I’d have a few caddis dry and emerger patterns on you. I usually imitate the Mother’s Day caddis with a tan-winged, dark-bodied (dark olive, for example) dry fly, size 14 or 16. If the hatch is thick, a highly visible pattern (a pink post, for example) will help you identify your bug among all the naturals. And it never hurts to drop a caddis emerger off of your dry, particularly if you’re seeing splashy rises. Stop by Sweetwater Fly Shop and we’ll suggest some juicy patterns. And if the caddis are not hatching yet, we’ve still been doing well with nymphs and streamers. A small black streamer/bugger, dead-drifted, has been my hot fly for trout this spring, but the usual lineup of nymphs are getting folks into fish.