Evening fishing has really picked up over the last few weeks, yet very few anglers are out there. Why? Probably the intense afternoon heat that roasts the brain. By 4pm, you’re fuzzy enough upstairs that you can’t decide if you need a beer or a lemonade (I drink both!), and you definitely don’t have the cells to gameplan for the evening bite.
But you need to regenerate those cells and get back out there. Maybe you should choose the Lemonade? Better yet some H2O! The evening fishing has been good to great as of late, and with so little competition from other anglers you can fish pretty much anywhere you like.
Hatches you ask? Well, I wouldn’t head out planning on anything in particular. You’ll see a few caddis, some Callibaetis, Pseudo’s and a variety of other mayflies and midges. Hoppers will work as well. A few of our guides have been on the water until dark in recent weeks. They’ll tell you hoppers work.
If you do want to throw the big bugs, it’s best to do it from the boat. Throw at each riser once, then roll. They’ll usually let you know right away if they want it. Leave the droppers at home. You might catch a few on the nymph, but you’ll definitely catch way fewer on the dry.
If I’m on foot, I’ll probably stick with mayfly cripples and spinners, as well as “junk” flies like the Buzzball and Quigley Midge Cluster. Larger attractors like the Purple Haze will work as well.
We’re definitely not telling you to bail on the morning. It’s still the right call. But that evening bite is worth it right now. Look at Ninch in the above picture.
