When I first started fly fishing I never gave enough credence to the importance of bugs. Now, I think you can’t know too much about bugs. I’m a firm believer that it’s a good idea to “check out the bugs” in the river nearly every time you fish, especially if you’re doing a lot of nymph fishing. Dave and I were on the Crooked River last week fishing a spot we fish often and started with a bug sampling. We have a small net that is about 15″ x 15″ that one of us holds in the water while the other turns over rocks upstream. We then transfer the bugs in the net to a white bowl that aids in viewing and identifying. For the particular spot we sampled, there were very nigh numbers of olive/tan scuds in sizes ranging from about #18 to #10, as well as black mayfly nymphs that were about #18 and #16 in size. We both used euro-nymphing techniques for our fishing for the day. Using #14 and #16 gold or tan scuds, #18 Psycho Mayfly nymphs, and #16 Black Beauties produced a lot of rainbows in the 6″ to 14″ range. So, knowing the bugs in the water and matching those bugs certainly helped us. Here are a few photos of the day.
Look at the diversity in bugs on the Crooked River.
A closer look at the PMD (Black) Mayflies, a scud, and then a small BOW.
The flies that enticed a good number of fish
A nice 14 inch rainbow – I was able to convince my fly was the real bug!
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