Ever since we opened almost 15
years ago, one of the questions I'm asked most frequently is
"When is the best fishing around here?" My answer invariably
is late March and early April. And I'm serious when I
say that. Late March is magic around here even if the weather
is cold and snowy, like it is this year. Sometime in early
March, the larger fish wake up and smell the coffee. They come
out of winter mode and take an interest in feeding. Until the
hatches start and we get some dry fly fishing, they hang on
the bottom and suck up nymphs.
But, closer to
the end of March, we start to get insect hatches. First, there
is the March Brown. This mayfly starts emerging in late March
and can continue until almost the end of April. It is a good
sized mayfly. We tie our imitations on size 14 hooks. The
hatch usually occurs in the afternoon and fishing can be truly
spectacular. In my opinion, March Browns are the best hatch we
get all year. The fish are ready to take dries and will really
smack your parachute or emerger pattern. And, because the
water is still cold, the smaller fish are not yet active. On a
decent day, an average angler can catch six to ten fish and
the average size of these fish will be about 15
inches.
Soon after the
March Brown, we start seeing Skwala stoneflies. Our hatch is
not as prolific or as famous as the Skwala hatch on the
Bitteroot, but it has gotten better and better over the past
few years, until it is now a major hatch on the creek. Put it
together with the March Browns and you have what I consider
the best fishing of the entire year.
And year after
year, these hatches come and go with almost nobody taking
advantage of them. There are, of course, a few people who have
seen the light and make this time one of their most important
fishing trips of the season. But, the vast majority of the
people I talk to continue to come in July and August even
after they have asked me several times what's the best time to
fish the creek and I've told them several times to come in
late March and early April.
I've never been
able to figure out why people listen to me tell them about
early season fishing year after year, nod sagely when I
recommend they come in early spring, tell me they'll see me
next March or April then appear the following August. I'm not
kidding people, right now until the end of April is the best
fishing we'll have all year and nobody, except a few local
fishermen, is taking advantage of it. Even the vast majority
of our local anglers are floating the Bitteroot, looking for
Skwalas. Read Rant 1 and you'll get my views on floating. In
any case almost all of you are passing up the very best
fishing Rock Creek has to offer. I'd really like to know
why those of you who actually read these rants can't be talked
into coming out for the best fishing Rock Creek has to
offer.
