Week of May 4th 2025: New Hope!

Week of May 4th: New Hope!

The fishing has been very good, so the “hope” referred to in the title of this week’s report is more about mayflies, specifically.  Last week was pretty hot, and April was two or three degrees warmer than average.  We are also hovering in drought or near-drought conditions.  Still, it was gorgeous and nice to be out.  The devoted individuals who raise and distribute our trout have been hard at work and the numbers of fish and the quality of the fish this year has been the topic of discussion in parking lots and turnouts throughout each and every day.  

I have once again been remiss in neglecting the flies selected by Euronymph practitioners, so let me take some time to review a few patterns that worked well this past week for our guides who straightline, rather than fish with an indicator or use the fly line and a sense of touch to swing and drift flies.

Here’s a short list: perdigons, or perdigones, in smaller sizes to match green or grey baetis or BWO. I’d try just about any color - purple, too. --Red darts or blowtorch in pink or orange.   --Guide’s Choice Hare’s Ear tied on a jig hook with a tungsten bead --Rio’s “Prince of Darkness” 

For the rest of us, the menu has been fairly consistent for the past few weeks. There’s lots of caddis; grannom and small black and tan can hatch at the same time. To match, elk or deer hair caddis in - you guessed it: black or tan.  The Henryville Special and Bird’s Nest work are worth carrying.  La Fontain pupa emergers and tan puff nymphs make good droppers.  Scuds and nymphs are under most rocks if you look, so see for yourself where all these creatures begin.  

Midges seem really important this season and many of the rising fish are making up for the dearth of mayflies with smaller bugs available.  Swinging streamers, buggers, and mops can find fish when the small stuff cannot.

The rain that finally fell a bit this weekend will help, hopefully, get more mayflies into the air. While strolling along a tributary to the Musky on Friday night, I found a few Light Cahill and was able to net one (see photo above).

Saturday night and Sunday I found this rather large, two tailed, yellow-eyed mayfly I have yet to identify (see photo above).

With the rain and lower temperatures, next week could be promising as long as the levels remain wadable and clear enough to fish.  It’s a good time to swing darker streamers or hit the smaller streams. Hopefully, we will see some notable hatches here in New Jersey soon.

May the flies be with you, always.

See you out there!

Roy B.