Week of June 15th 2025: Happy Father's Day

Week of June 15th: Happy Father's Day

To all the dads, grandfathers, step-dads, father figures and mentors - SBO hopes you enjoyed your day!  Many of us learned to angle with rod and line from our family and it's great to see traditional trips, or trips that carry special memories, continue from generation to generation.  I celebrated by camping in nearby Stephens State Park with my kids and did get out for a few minutes on the Musky as it rambles through the park.  If you have not visited Stephens, to fish, camp, or hike, it is a nice spot close to Hackettstown.  With my kids, fishing is still more just splashing around and turning over rocks which, of course, reminded me of me testing my grandfather’s (relative) patience on Morris County streams just a few decades ago.  

The weather is keeping us in the trout game a little while longer.  Cool nights and overcast days are exactly what we want to practice catch and release fishing when temps are under 65 to 70 degrees.  Isonychia should be around, though I have not seen any myself. These large, brown body mayflies are great swimmers and crawl out of the water onto rocks to molt.  The bubble wing Iso emerger is a particular favorite of mine, which is strange since this is not a surface hatch! Many people like an Iso nymph for its distinctive white stripe down the thorax and abdomen and the fact it swims means you can twitch and jig it a bit.  An Iso dry fly, comparadun or parachute, can be fished anytime in the afternoon when you see them start; it could be mid-day and onward, often getting heavy around dusk and can continue through dark until midnight.  Large rusty spinners at night are effective to meet the fall of spent Iso adults. 

Another fly that has been prolific this Spring is the yellow stonefly.  These are big nymphs and big flies.  Smaller yellow patterns, either perdigon or a hare’s ear with yellow dubbing and pheasant can be fished to mimic the yellow sally or large yellow stonefly all summer long. Scuds are still in the mix, as they are a summer bug/crustacean, too.  

Keep your stream thermometer handy or check the shop’s resource page for live reports of the stream gauges - hopefully the temperature function on the SBR will be up soon.  Be aware of summer hours for the shop in the offing.

See you out there, Roy B.