Out of Sync

The weather roller coaster continues in unabated fashion.  First we had an early and dry spring which had everyone worried about May and June's water temps.  Now we have tons of rain and we're left wondering when will the rivers be fishable again? 
This past weekend, being mothers day, left limited fishing opportunities unless one wanted to burn any good will and use all of one's fishing capital for the better part of a year.  Which wouldn't be a wise option.  This had me eying today as a time to head out after work for a few hours.  But alas my options for hitting the water are not in sync with mother nature.  Every night this week has something on the schedule and this is prime time for our local trout fishing. 
While all of this rain is good for the rivers and has brought the local waters way up and put the old rain delay on my outing I now have to examine our busy calendar and hope to find a few hours when I can get away some evening.  To further complicate matters the salt has been calling whispering into my dreams visions of stripers on cinder worms, but that will mean almost a full day away and the chances of that are bleak to say the least. 

A Few of my Friends on the Water

There are certain friends that one crosses paths with from time to time on the water that evoke fond memories of past shared experiences and good times.  The following is a small sample of some friends that I have spent some quality time with in the last month or so on the water.

 Blue Quill  aka Paraleptophlebia adoptiva

 
PED/ large sulper aka ephemerella rotunda


  PED/ large sulper aka ephemerella rotunda up close

 

 March Brown aka Stenonema vicarium
 

Bank Sippers

The vast majority of a trouts feeding time finds it hunkered down near the river bottom searching for food morsels adrift in the flow of the river.  There are a few exceptions to this such as when larger fish forage near shore for minnows or when sufficient insects are hatching and the fishes attention turns to the narrow band of water that intersects the air.  This meniscus is the trouts best friend in these situations as it proves to be a formidable barrier for the insects to break through.  As such it acts as a wall with which to trap the food and the fish can feed leisurely without having to expend more energy than necessary as its prey is effectively trapped.  Hence the effectiveness of emerger patterns.

Given all of the varied waters that trout inhabit, the situations that entice a trout to feed on top, while not rare, does require a certain set of circumstances that are not always present.  This makes surface feeding fish somewhat of the exception and something special for the fly fisherman.  This explains why certain rivers are well know to dry fly fisherman and others are not.  There is one subset of these surface feeding fish that gets my attention like no other and that is the bank sipper.

The bank sipper while not mythical remains a special fish mainly due to the fact that it is invariably an very nice specimen.  Bank sippers generally feed within a foot of the bank in an area where the current flows a bit slower than the main current, which provides the food  as an never ending conveyor belt.  The bank offers some kind of protection such as a tree, bush or just steepness.  This cover allows the bank sipper to feel safe and to feed.  Just because the fish is close to shore doesn't mean that the water is deep sometimes the water barely covers the fish's dorsal fin.  The distance and numerous currents between the fisherman and their quarry.present formidable challenges for the angler after these fish, but the rewards are worth the effort.