October Caddis

[JohnScott]

... if you are fortunate to get on one of those cricks that have an October Caddis hatch for a limited period of time.

Fished the FEB OC 2.0 yesterday on my home water. Lot's of action in one place, but not a lot of hook ups. The second place provided more action and lots of hook ups and fishes in hand.



The big surprise was ..... a large mountain whitefish ate the FEB OC. Could have knocked me over with a piece of size 20 dry fly hackle when I realized what I had on. Can't recall ever getting a big whitefish on a dry before.

John

[ScottP]

The October Caddis is the fishies' last chance for a big meal before winter.

So you're saying that minnows, sculpins, stonefly nymphs (salmonfly, golden, skwala) don't qualify as big meals? or that they're not available to the trout before winter? I'm just a dumb easterner, but I know that statement is laughable at best or patently wrong at worst.

Or is it that I selectively took a statement, possibly out of context, and twisted it around to denigrate and trivialize the author? That sure doesn't happen very often, does it?:

For those of us who fish the West year round, every month of the year, in a variety of locations, Spruce Moth patterns would be excess baggage most of the time, and quite possibly all the time. For example, fishing 125-135 days a year in Montana and Idaho, I've never tied, left home with, and fished a Spruce Moth pattern.

Not saying that Spruce Moths don't make for an interesting fly angling experience in places where they are available to trout, and not saying that Doug's pattern .... aren't really good examples of flies that will fish well in those places for a short time in the summer - just saying that hyping it to be a year around fly for the entire West is a bit much.


John

[clearwater]

Great pics, John!
May I ask where in W Mt? Are you being plagued with the fires?smoke?

Mark

[JohnScott]

So you're saying that minnows, sculpins, stonefly nymphs (salmonfly, golden, skwala) don't qualify as big meals? or that they're not available to the trout before winter? I'm just a dumb easterner, but I know that statement is laughable at best or patently wrong at worst ...:

... Scott.

Glad you picked me up on that - I had a great laugh on how dumb I can be.

Good to see you get the opportunity to rejoin your great thread.

John

[JohnScott]

John,

Considering the late spring delayed dry fly fishing this year, it seems Mother Nature has given you nice, extended topwater action in the fall to make up for it. Thanks for all the pics and reports.

Regards,
Scott

... it dawned on me that I had never said "you're welcome" for all the pics and reports.

You're welcome, Scott.

John

[JohnScott]

Great pics, John!
May I ask where in W Mt? Are you being plagued with the fires?smoke?

Mark

Mark -

In the northern end of the Bitterroot Valley. Yes - the smoke has been pretty bad the past couple weeks. It has ranged from uncomfortable, to unhealthy, to hazardous, the way the air quality folks rate it.

The Mustang Complex fire down in Idaho is about 320,000 acres as of this morning, It is really affecting the southern end of the Bitterroot Valley. There is the Sawtooth fire west of Hamilton that is causing major problems for the people down in that part of the Bitterroot Valley. Up here, we are probably getting minimum effect from the Mustang, a noticeable effect from the Sawtooth, and major smoke pollution from the Powell Complex which is just across the Idaho border to our SW and is now somewhere around 45,000 acres.

John