Green Drake Hatch

[agmccall]

Hello..

There is a Lake here in the Adirondacks, that I will not mention for obvious reasons, that supposedly has a fantastic Green Drake Hatch. Has anyone Fished it and if so how was it...Is it worth the trip..My wife and I were about a week late last year, although the camping was fantastic I missed the hatch...I am willing to give the name of the lake if the bribe is adequate....LOL

thank you

[Creekwader]

Hello..

There is a Lake here in the Adirondacks, that I will not mention for obvious reasons, that supposedly has a fantastic Green Drake Hatch. Has anyone Fished it and if so how was it...Is it worth the trip..My wife and I were about a week late last year, although the camping was fantastic I missed the hatch...I am willing to give the name of the lake if the bribe is adequate....LOL

thank you

Predicting hatches, especially on ponds is an iffy proposition. Steams are better documented and predictable. My philosophy is, if I've got time to go fishing then I'm going to go fishing. I'll react to whatever is or isn't hatching when I get there. Unless there are 5 lb. brook trout gulping down emerging green drakes beside my canoe, I'm probably not going to fish any differently anyway. I know this doesn't answer your question but unless you have your heart set on casting during a green drake hatch you might want to consider fishing during the time frame you think the hatch might take place and hope for the best. The fish will be biting on something, even if it's not green drakes.
-CW

[pondhopper]

Too ambiguous. I know of one lake that had a tremendous hatch about 10 years ago; haven't seen one since.

Anyone ever use Hornbergs (sp?). Bigger brooktrout often key on crayfish, esp. ones that don't contain minnows.

[ken999]

Hornbergs

Yup, I've used them. I've seen other fellas have more luck with them than myself.

[sacco]

never had any luck w/ crayfish, myself. for trout or bass. maybe i'm just not fishin' em' right.

[Creekwader]

Got 2 small lakers this summer on a Hornberg. Beyond that, haven't really tried them.

[ken999]

The 'bows we caught in Upper Siamese had crayfish in them.

[serotonin]

Hornbergs

I was thinking about Hornbergs this past weekend.
The last time I fished 'em was two years ago in the Catskills.

Used them in Nov, on a stream, and they were working good on wild 'bows
right up to the point when I lost the last fly.

[Creekwader]

Some cool Hornberg variants:

http://globalflyfisher.com/streamers/swaps/hornbergs/

[Gray Ghost]

Crayfish

Trout do love crayfish, and I have had a lot of luck with them in streams where live bait is allowed as well as in lakes. As far as crayfish patterns go, I think presentation can be tough.

I know that Fran Betters is an advocate of the Hornberg. In one of his books he states he landed a huge trout--his personal best--on the West Branch of the Ausable.

[sacco]

Trout do love crayfish, and I have had a lot of luck with them in streams where live bait is allowed as well as in lakes. As far as crayfish patterns go, I think presentation can be tough.

bass love'm too. i've just never had luck with either species, spinning or flyfishing.

like you said, i think presentation can be tough.

[serotonin]

This crayfish talk makes me want to try a cray-fly next time I'm out.
I would've tried one today if I had one (I used a bugger w/nymph dropper and both flies caught fish). I KNOW that this water has lots of crayfish.

Anyhow... does anyone know the behavior/activity of crayfish at this time of year (in streams)?

I think it would be really easy to fish the fly, as long as it's on the bottom, in a rocky section. Plenty of weight in slower water. All the imitations I've seen have the hook pointing up, and that should alleviate alot of snags.

[sacco]

i think one method of fishing them is w/ a fairly heavy sliding sinker. the idea is that the weight sits on the bottom, as the line slowly slides through the weight w/ the current, letting the fly move a foot or so above the bottom. then you when you softly twitch the line a bit w/ our left hand, it looks like the crawfish fly is darting upstream and down (like it's runnin for cover) the way crawfish naturally do.

i've never tried this, just heard about it along time ago. sounds good to me... in theory...

[serotonin]

Sounds plausible.

I also think a dead-drift near the bottom would also work, w/ occasional twitches... ie. dead or injured crawdad = easy meal.

I think I could have alot of fun just manuevering it along the bottom too.

[pondhopper]

Anyhow... does anyone know the behavior/activity of crayfish at this time of year (in streams)?

Not really, other than them being sluggish.

However, crayfish are extremely acid tolerant and exist in good numbers in ALL ADK waters. I've seen them thriving in waters having pHs in the 4.0 range. Ju-u-ust in case anybody wanted to know.