If It's Fall It's Baetis Time
By Neil M. Travis, Montana
All week long the bright autumn sun continued the pattern that
had persisted during my summer, but the weather forecast held
forth the promise of a change. Unfortunately in Montana a change
in the weather, especially in October, is a radical shift rather
than a gradual change. We needed a change in the weather to cause
our resident trout to start getting serious about preparing for
the long winter months that were ahead, and we needed a change
in the weather to persuade the Baetis to begin to hatch.
Sunday morning as my wife and I headed for church I noticed a
line of black clouds building along the northern horizon. Walking
into church a cold wind suddenly sent the autumn leaves swirling
down the street and the smell of moisture falling somewhere nearby
filled my nostrils. Change was coming.
At noon as we left the church a cold rain was beginning to fall
and low scudding black clouds were being pushed along by a sharply
colder north wind. This was the change of weather that I had been
waiting for, and after a quick lunch I fired up my old suburban
and headed for DePuy's Spring Creek that is just a short distance
from my house.
By the time I arrived at the stream the cold rain was falling
steadily being pushed by a gusting north wind, and intermixed
with the rain an occasional flake of wet snow hit my windshield.
I glanced quickly at the stream and the rise forms of feeding
trout pockmarked the surface. The change of weather had gotten
the attention of the trout. Squinting through the rain I could
see that the surface of the water was covered with insects. The
fall Baetis were hatching, and the trout were gorging on the
bounty.
No matter in what part of the country you live you will find
Baetis mayflies on your area trout streams. In many places the
first major mayfly hatch of the season are members of the Baetis
family, and the last major hatch of the season are members of the
same family. Most of the members of this family are relatively
small, and I carry patterns tied on hooks from size #16 to #26.
Spring and fall Baetis tend to be dark in color, and I prefer
to use body colors that contain olive overtones in both light
and dark shades. I like to tie my dry flies with a single post
wing and a parachute style hackle. For the nymph I use a
pheasant-tail pattern.
Quickly I pulled my vehicle into the parking lot, grabbed my
gear and made a dash into the fisherman's hut where I could
change without getting soaked before I started. Thinking it
might be nice to have a warm place to retreat to after fishing
I rapidly kindled a fire in the wood stove before I stepped
out to brave the weather.
Just above the hut is a long flat, and trout noses were continually
breaking the surface to snatch the hatching flies. Slipping into
the water I began by making a cast to the nearest riser and was
instantly connected to a nice brown trout. As I eased the net
under him the rain changed to snow, large wet flakes quickly
turning a fall day into an early winter whiteout. As the snow
increased the Baetis hatch seemed to intensify. The cold and
damp kept the flies glued to the water, and rising fish were
everywhere. For the next hour I seldom made more than a couple
casts without hooking a trout. After releasing a heavy bodied
rainbow I realized that I was having trouble feeling my hands,
and I retreated to the warmth of the hut.
The wood stove had warmed the hut to a very comfortable temperature
and it sure felt good on my icy hands. Outside the snow continued
to fall covering the ground and turning everything a glistening
white. Soon the feeling returned to my hands, I slipped on my
rain jacket and returned to the stream.
I continued fishing for another hour in the falling snow. The
flies continued to hatch and the fish continued to rise, but
finally the cold began to take its toll on my body and I
retreated again to the hut. Stoking up the wood stove I sat
and listened to the crackling of the cottonwood logs and the
sound of the wind sighing around the eves. It was beginning
to get dark, and I realized that I was both cold and hungry
but ultimately satisfied. It was fall, the Baetis were
hatching, and I was there to experience it. For the trout
angler it's not likely that it gets any better than that,
at least not this side of Heaven! ~ Neil M. Travis, Montana/Arizona
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