Learning to keep with the Drummers beat.

Do you play music? Have a band? Have a set of ears? Nothing sounds worse than a group out of sync. Its nasty, grating, and difficult to bare. Being out of sync with the river wears on me the same way. Its not overly enjoyable. Nothing drives this home more for me than when fish key in on a hatch I haven't encountered before.

This was the case this week. Brown Drakes. Yup. Never encountered that hatch before. So when I happened to be in the right place at the right time for some good fishing opportunities. I was at a distinct deficit.

The boys that know the hatch well had been following it up river. Each night or so, moving up the river to a different location as the river warmed up, hoping to catch the spinner fall. On the night in question I managed to have myself on a prime location on the river that was packed by dusk by those in the know. Mind you, I was expecting to be fishing Fox spinners. The realization that Brown Drakes would be falling was disconcerting. I tend to travel lightly, and the box containing my larger assortment of spinners was at home. Nothing in my box was going to suffice for a Drake pattern. If those started to fall in any number it would be unlikely the fish would look at the less appetizing Fox patterns................mind you, I'd still be game to give it a go.......but wouldn't be overly optimistic about my potential results.

In the end, my results on this night weren't going to be affected by my lack or preparedness. One of the group that descended on the location was a local guide who happily shared a couple of flies that would keep me in the game. My problem was my back had gone completely ballistic and curtailed my staying out on the water past 10:30 or so. When spinner fishing you can often find yourself on the water well after midnight. FML, whatever, but the night wasn't totally lost.

The guide I was talking with, Jim, was extremely informative ( all guides are not created equal. ), and filled me in on the knowledge I needed for this hatch in the future. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for such opportunities. Listen carefully, learn what your being told, apply the knowledge. A recipe for success in my books. The spinner pattern he gave me is now part of my ever growing collection of patterns, tied and used by accomplished fisherman. I've picked up some great ones.

Over 2 days I did decent enough to keep myself happy. I didn't manage anything over 16", but I've stopped becoming dissapointed when I don't hit the pigs. I was happy that I managed to figure out the majority of fish........there were more competing hatches going on than you'd like. For the most part, fish that were sipping would take a #20 BWO or Crane Fly, fish on emergers could often be counted on to take a caddis emerger.