The 5 o'clock Sulfurs

 

The 5 o’clock Sulfurs

5/24/22

 'After a nap, in the camper, I walked down to the river and saw a hatch of sulfurs rising off the water and fluttering around. I didn’t see a fish rise. I wasn’t surprised though cause I never caught trout in this section before. I did know where I could find trout and if the hatch is still going on I should have a good evening.’

 I got my gear on, made sure I had sulfurs, and drove down river. I parked and was the only vehicle in the area. I didn’t have to walk too close to the river to see sulfurs flying around. Standing on the bank I saw rising fish. I was excited! I clipped off a section of 4x tippet attached to my tapered leader and knotted on a section of 5x tippet. I knotted on a #16 sulfur and waded out into the river. I didn’t have to wade too far at all when I saw fish rising all around me once I stood still and the water settled. The sulfurs fluttering around looked like a size #18 but I figured I’d try a #16 Catskill tie.

  You can say I had the pick of the risers like winning the first raffle draw and having the pick of the table prizes.

  I picked out a riser, took out line and made a cast across stream making sure my tippet drifted behind my imitation down river. A fish swirled and my sulfur disappeared just before I snapped the rod back to set the hook. The line tightened and my first fish was fighting the tight line. He swam and fought against the current all the way to my net.

 The next one took 3 drifts before he took my sulfur with a gulp.

  The water wasn’t boiling with risers as if gorging on every sulfur drifting with the current. It appeared the hatch was actually petering out but just a few that were still emerging or drifting on the surface. The rises were sporadic but in the same space where each were feeding. Kinda like that Whac-A-Mole game. If I timed it right I’d nab one!

  Throughout the evening I continued to hook up or miss trout every time I saw a rise. I had to wade down river some as more fish were rising further down. Out across the water I saw a few more risers. The water was much deeper and I had to make long casts to get to them. There wasn’t much of a breeze so I was able to place my dry where I wanted with ease. One fish took my sulfur with a healthy splash. I reared the long length of line quickly, the fly line zipped of the water and tightened once again with a fleeing fish. This fish felt a lot heavier than the ones I’ve been catching. I felt the fast action rod flex into the middle section a few times while fighting the fish. It pulled and stayed deep as I played him near me. I was surprised that when I netted the fish it was a smallmouth bass. I guess smallmouth like the tasty little sulfurs also.

  When I saw fish practically jumping out of the water I knew they were taking emergers. After a few drifts through their feeding zone without a strike I put the dry right on the spot they rose from. That fooled a few taking emergers as they shot out of the water before they thought it was going to fly away. When the rises got fewer, and not near by, I called it quits.

It was an unexpected good time dry fly fishing over a river hatch.

(I did smoke a few cigars while enjoying my hook ups. I didn’t want to spot burn with pictures.)

Back at camp I cooked up some hot Italian sausage and ate dinner.

 

 Later on I got a campfire going and smoked a Vintage Cameroon, drank a few beers and relaxed as darkness closed out the day.

 

~doubletaper