Look hard, he's in there. We were heading down-stream yesterday and were doing pretty well until about lunch-time. I saw my first October caddis of the season land on this thistle. I immediately pulled over and changed up bugs and we commenced wrecking 'em.
This time of the year can be tough because of the weather changes but also because the only real hatch we have are those damn pseudos. There are some caddis and on the right day, you can get fish to eat a small elk hair but when they are keyed in on the small stuff, it's like banging your head against the wall trying to get them to eat. It's usually a couple weeks before this that the pseudos crash the party but this year they came late. Everything else up until now was three weeks early. Go figure. That also means the Octobers are a bit late as well.
What happens is in the spring when the water starts to warm up, the bugs gradually get bigger going from midges to blue winged olives and then to PMD's with March browns and caddis and other things mixed in. As the summer progresses, the water warms up so much that the bugs then digress into tiny little tricos and then midges again. Right around the first week of September, the nights get cool but the days warm up and the water temps follow. The water starts out much cooler than a couple weeks before but then warms up to roughly the same temp in the afternoon. That's when the tiniest of tiny bugs hatch and the fish get really picky. But like I said, the progression was about three weeks early up until the end of July and now, it's a few weeks late and those damn pseudos just won't leave.
I've talked about pseudos before but it's worth mentioning again because with clear skies, fooling fish rising to a size 28 mayfly is pretty much impossible. However, with clouds and rain, you can get them to eat generic mayfly patterns pretty readily. There is one exception though. There is one bug that doesn't seem to follow the same progression and that's the October caddis.
The October caddis is a very large caddis, about a size eight, and burnt-orange in color. They are easy to pick out because they look like a moth that has had way too much to drink. It's almost like their body was way too big for the wings God gave them. They flutter around and go from bush to bush looking for a mate but when the wind blows, they can't keep themselves from getting blown into the water.
You generally won't see a billion of these flying around. You probably won't see more than a couple but if you do see them, you can bet the trout have as well they will be on the prowl. They absolutely love eating these large bugs and your presentation doesn't have to be great. Just get a big stimi out there and don't be afraid to skate it. I've even had a guy from Canada strip them like a streamer and watched browns race out from under willows to crush them.
As for nymphs; I've seen a lot of different patterns for the October's pupa but the only thing you really need to know is a big rainbow Czech.
Keep 'em where they live...
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