Caddis Hatch

[PigSooner]

So how far do you think we are from the first caddis hatch?

[crkoester]

If you're fishing Beaver tailwater I'd say you are about 2 hours away. (From Bull Shoals Dam).

[Beaverdamstore]

I was on the water yesterday evening and it sounded like running water the fish were surfacing so much. Midge hatch is crazy here. You will see caddis just not what I would call a "hatch". Roaring River is a lot closer than Bull and has a caddis hatch every day. :-)

Jim

PS. Bull is closer to 3 hours away.

[PigSooner]

I was on the water yesterday evening and it sounded like running water the fish were surfacing so much. Midge hatch is crazy here. You will see caddis just not what I would call a "hatch". Roaring River is a lot closer than Bull and has a caddis hatch every day. :-)

Jim

PS. Bull is closer to 3 hours away.

So Beaver tail water doesn't have a caddis hatch like below Bull shoals, hmm, didn't know that... What would be the big difference? Does it have to do with River flow?

[crkoester]

Beaver just doesn't have much of the consistent fast, shallow shoal-type water that caddis seem to favor. Jim makes a good point about the caddis hatch at RR. Was just there yesterday and saw plenty of small caddis in the air, as well as BWO's and of course midges. What I didn't see were many rising trout. Zone 3 was the Dead Zone.

Jim, are you getting those Beaver midging fish to eat any dries?

[crkoester]

Beaver just doesn't have much of the consistent fast, shallow shoal-type water that caddis seem to favor. Jim makes a good point about the caddis hatch at RR. Was just there yesterday and saw plenty of small caddis in the air, as well as BWO's and of course midges. What I didn't see were many rising trout. Zone 3 was the Dead Zone.

Jim, are you getting those Beaver midging fish to eat any dries?

[Dan Sweeney]

The trout below Beaver pretty much subsist on midges and leftover Power Bait that the spinning rig guys fling off when they cast. It's basically a sterilized linear aquarium down there. It's a place to spend some time in between hunting seasons and real fishing, but not much more. There are few real hatches besides midges down there.

[Amery]

That doesn't mean the fishing isn't good.

[Beaverdamstore]

Wow Dan. I am easier to entertain than you are. :-) I can have a blast like yesterday. I had 2 kids and their mother in the boat. Between the 3 of them they caught somewhere near 50 trout on power bait. 2 days before I had a father and son using PJs Jigs on a fly rod. first time fly fishermen and could only cast about 20' at best. They probably only landed about 10-15 trout. Before that a father and 2 sons with fly rods. That day used mostly quazimoto and had another great day. It is the smiles and pictures that keep me fishing "sterilized linear aquarium".

Honestly the Beaver Tail water doesn't have the numbers or size compaired to Bull or Taney.

Except for generating water I very seldom use dry flies personally. I do get reports from several fly guys a year who do use dries and catch fish.

Jim

[crkoester]

The fishing can be challenging below Beaver for sure, esp for the fly fisherman. Having said that, I had at least 3 days last spring of 40+ trout, just simply wading in and going fishing. You just need to adjust your techniques and approach, and realize sometimes conditions are tough enough you'd believe all the fish have disappeared.

Jim, I've had similar experiences down there many times where the water is just boiling with midging fish but you can hardly buy a bite on a dry fly.... or almost anything. Esp right at dusk. I've tried some emerger patterns with scant success, and you can hardly get a bite nymphing as the fish are all keyed in to the emergers at the surface. Sometimes I've been able to salvage a few bites swinging or slow stripping a really small soft hackle. Do you have other bright ideas on making those aggressively midging fish eat on slack water?

Chris