This is my favorite fly of the year. I just finished tying twelve
dozen of them. Here in the east it's more popular than Chevy
Trucks. It's the fly I wouldn't leave home without. I actually
fish it all year long as other later hatches are so similar that
the early spring Chimarra imitations carries
throughout the year.
Technically it's from the Philopotamidae family,
making it a net spinner. There are three genera here in the United
States, but I only fish Chimarra. The literature
says there are seventeen species but I am familiar with
C. aterrima only. It's an eastern hatch but what a thing.
On the Mad River, Ohio and the AuSable in Michigan it rules.
I see it here interspersed with the Hendrickson hatch
(E. subvaria) which starts in mid April. Trout will in
the course of the day switch from Sedges to Hendricksons to
Sedges and back so it's not a hatch for dummies.
Before noon I fish the soft hackle emerging pupae, down and across
with the Al Campbell twitch, and then a
Troth Elk Hair Caddis as
the dry. In the early afternoon I use a parachute to access the
Hendrickson hatch. Later I fish the egg-laying sedge tied with
a pronounced green egg sac, and finish the day working on
Hendrickson spinners. Some days the Hendrickson emerger
can be the event of the day.
This hatch or one of its brothers (remember there are seventeen
species) hatch all over the eastern United States and a size 18
Troth Elk Hair Caddis, with a peacock herl body, seems to work
anywhere there are trout. The early on soft hackle pupae imitation,
with a dirty yellow-orange body, or orange silk thread body and the
diving egg layer with its super-sized green egg sac are really all
the flies I need. I fish the slightly-weighted egg layer under an indicator.
This year I intend to try some slightly flashy bodies on the emergers
and egg layers, essentially doing the same that LaFontaine's
sparkle caddis
does. I'll think I will fish the emerger from the center to
the shore more.
I find this fly in the riffles of slower moving chalk stream types,
like the AuSable in Michigan, and on certain parts of the Little Manistee.
It's a gentlemen's hatch, a 10-2 event. Time for a leisurely breakfast
and a 9 AM arrival to fish the emerger. Where else can you, in the
usual course of the day, fish two major hatches.
I don't fish the sparkle pupae, but not because it doesn't work. I feel
the fly works not because of an imitation of the 'air bubble,' but that
it's an attractor which allows a fish to key in on the imitation from
a greater distance. The subtle shine fails to spook the fish. I will
catch a lot of flak over this but I don't buy the 'bubble attractor theory.'
The fly works. I just hate to fish a fly whose effectiveness is predicated
on what I consider nonsense.
This hatch and the Grannom are the two major caddis hatches of
the year. At least here. Don't miss either. They are worth traveling
to fish. Old Rupe
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