River levels have dropped in the last few days, so we headed up to the Crooked in hopes of catching a Caddis fly hatch.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that these early spring hatches are referred to as the Mother’s Day Caddis.
At its peak the water, rocks, bushes, and trees are engulfed in a cloud of small gray-winged bugs.
Little Black Caddis or (for the more entomological) Gannom, are often the name fly fishers associate with the insect.
There are more than a few Caddis flies varieties that have a spotted gray wing. Many of which hatch in early summer.
Without a lot more kick-net work, it’s hard to put a name to any aquatic insect.
In my case there was plenty of time to observe on water activity as there were no fish feeding over this hatch.
So, while nothing was hooked, a lot of ‘fishing’ was done. In the end, that is the general purpose of these trips anyway.
Once home I pulled out my copy of Gary LaFontine’s book “Caddisflies” and it seems, to me, these are Psilotreta / Smoky Wing Sedge or Chimarra / Little Black Sedge.
Knowing precisely which, while interesting, has little bearing on choice of pattern or presentation. for that you just need a color and size match.
Still it’s fun to catch and observe the local insect population.
Data collected will be incorporated in future fly tying and hopefully next time there will be fish feeding on the naturals.