August Caddis

An August evening. It means a possibility of caddis hatch where you live. They are rhyacophila, one of the two caddis species you know by name. They hatch after sunset. Last time you were here it didn’t happen.



There was some good fishing soon after 6 pm. when you arrived, but then it has been quiet. You take a break, eat your egg-bacon-sandwich.

Start again, fish a small streamer with soft hackle dropper. You start catching small trout. Replace the streamer with a size 16 caddis pupa. It’s getting dark, and the trout are everywhere. The best fly is a dry fly, green bodied Deer Hair Sedge.


When it is too dark to see your fly, you switch back to pupa pattern and feel the trout taking it. And when they stop, you stop.

You lived again.

Bad Timing

Trout fishing season has began again here in Finland with the spring stonefly hatch.



I can't go now, and when I can it could be all over. Again.



I screwed it.

That is a sure sign of the start of the new trout fishing season!

In the darkest hour of the brightest night

A midnight in June. I recall it in vivid fragments.

The cold moistness of wet hands, the roar of powerful rapids above, and the silvery water, full of tiny air bubbles, flowing rapidly in a strong run.

They are background for the real show.

Heart stops beating when a trout—a big one, it is no place for small trout—rockets out of the strongest current straight up, turns in the air and descents back into the water. Heart beats again. Fast. A moment later it happens again, then another fish, and another, and then the biggest and stoutest of all. They are perfect.

It lasted about 30 minutes.

No.

It lasted a lifetime.

"It is happening again. It is happening again."

According to the Finnish fly fishing forum The February Red Stonefly Hatch is coming in few weeks. Total four (4) specimen have been seen in the Southern Finland. Yes, you hear right; not one, nor two, but four!

It can be cold, and it can rain, it can be miserable, but I will be there: standing in a river. And if it is really miserable, I'll fish with the taste of blood in my mouth, but it will be a good taste: the taste of life after a long cold winter!

Coming season

Wyatt noted that it’s about 50 days before the Columbia Basin's finest stillwaters open for a new season. It got me thinking. Here, in middle Finland, first reasonable trout fishing starts around late March or early April. February Red stonefly nymphs will swim/crawl/climb out of slow flowing stretches of our streams to snow covered banks and hatch. That means dry fly fishing opportunities too valuable to miss after a cold and dark winter.

From Life

In May the water temperature will rise to levels which draws prey fish from deep pools and lakes to the running water. And after them comes the hunters: big trout. Statistically May and June are best time of the year to catch the big one in middle Finland. And I’ll be there, hunting the hunters, casting big streamers (hopefully with my new custom made fly rod).

From Fly-patterns

The end of May and beginning of June will bring first caddis hatches as well as small yellow mayflies which always gets me and fish exited. In many ways I look forward this time: the action level is so high, water is still cold enough that big trout doesn’t flee to lakes and those less fanatic fly fishermen are still dreaming of summer and haven’t realized that the season is at full swing.

Please don’t tell them.

From Fly-patterns

Taeniopteryx nebulosa

It is now late October and the next major hatch that will occur here is the February Red Stonefly hatch. And that would be late May or early April. Here are some pictures from last year hatch.

From Life

From Life

From Life

From Life

From Life

Caddisfly Hatch

There was heavy caddisfly hatch last night. Mostly egg-laying females I think.

Orange bodied Klinkhämmer worked well, but this trout accepted a streamer.

Nice fishing!

The February red

They were there.

And it did rain. In fact, it rained the whole day. But I had fun. I was there all by my self for whole day.

I found lot of stoneflies but no fish this time. Well, there is always a next time...

The day after tomorrow

Forecast for Saturday is +4 degrees Celsius. Just about perfect for the first fishing day of the season - not counting the rain. Given that today is below zero but tomorrow is already above, the expectations are high for Saturday. The stone fly hatch is expected.