Composed by: Brian McGeehan, Montana Angler Fly Fishing
A caddisfly blizzard on the Yellowstone is something to witness.
Image courtesy Montana Angler
The Mom’s Day caddis is a famous hatch, and among my individual favorites of the whole year on the Yellowstone in southwestern Montana. There can be an actual blizzard of caddisflies in the air, looking like big oscillating waves over the water. The hard part, naturally, is timing the hatch. The huge blitz of bugs typically lasts for a a minimum of a week or two, however in some cases winter triggers it to sputter or stop and begin once again. Water clearness is the genuine problem, as this hatch is jammed right up versus the start of overflow. Some years, whatever exercises completely, while other years the whole thing gets gotten rid of. The bright side is that we can likewise chase this hatch on the Madison River, which stays clear due to the fact that of the dams along its course. We have a lot excellent fishing around the Bozeman location that we do not need to put all our eggs in one basket.
Back to the Yellowstone: if you are preparing a journey for the hatch, want to the very first week of May as your choice, however spring weather condition is so unforeseeable that the hatch can be previously or later on. In my experience, it appears that when the water temperature levels begin to sneak above 50 degrees in the afternoon, that indicates that the hatch is noteworthy. When things actually get cranking, you can have efficient dry-fly fishing all day, although afternoons and nights tend to be the most constant times for fishing. The fish tend to be a bit less shy about feeding upon the surface area once the sun starts to leave the water.
For flies, I like an olive or tan color in a size 14. In some cases I’ll drop to a size 16 if the water is extremely clear. A standard Elk-Hair Caddis or X-Caddis works fine, however I choose some variation of aParachute Caddis The colored parachute post makes it a bit simpler to see the fly from the boat.
A Parachute caddis pattern is a lot easier to see among the naturals on the water.
Image by means of orvis.com
The trout will frequently type in on emergers throughout the caddis hatch, specifically throughout intense, warm parts of the day. To take advantage of this, I frequently drop a caddis emerger off the back of my dry, and it generally captures a minimum of as lots of fish, if not more, than the dry. Patterns such as a Z-Wing Caddis Emerger or CDC Caddis Emerger are my leading options.
This is among those hatches that every severe fly angler must attempt to experience eventually in their fishing profession. While it does reproduce its reasonable share of aggravation sometimes, timing it right will produce adequate fish stories to forget all the rest.
Click here to learn about more great spring hatches in the Yellowstone region
Brian McGeehan is owner and outfitter of Montana Angler Fly Fishing, an Orvis-Endorsed Fly-Fishing Exploration in Bozeman, Montana.
