[Salvy]

I wasn't sure if this should go in the Entomology forum but it's a bit too general I think. Move it if necessary.

This is a basic, general question and warrants no specific answers relative to time and space.

What is the hatch-matching scene in WA?

I currently live in Maine and am moving in three weeks. I just had an epic day of fishing over rising fish with a smorgasbord of bugs (three mayflies, three sizes of caddis, and midges). Can I expect anything like this in WA? I know there are some MT/WA folks on the forum. Perhaps they have an edge for answering what with the epic hatches in MT.

I love swinging streamers and wet flies but a good hatch is a good time.

Thanks for any thoughts and/or input.

 

[seattlesetters]

Plenty of streams in Washington have good hatches. Most will not require extreme "hatch-matching" flies and general purpose patterns such as an Adams and Elk Hair Caddis will get you into the game. Whatever patterns you like for general mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies will work here along with any other forms of things you like to chuck (nymphs, streamers, etc.). The classic Western "hopper/dropper" rig also works wonders on just about all our streams, but some of us are DFOD.

 

[Salvy]

DFOD?...

 

[Old Man]

If you looking for hatches in Western Washington. Well keep looking. There isn't to many bugs on the wet side of the mountains to have a good hatch. Over on the dry side things are different. It's like night and day.

 

[Stonefish]

People will tell you that westside streams don't have many bugs. That may be true compared to the eastside streams, but there are still plenty of bugs in westside streams. When you get here, turn over rocks and see for yourself.
I can think of a few low elevation small streams that I fish that the bottoms are covered with caddis larva. I guess those never hatch? Wrong.....
Same goes for mayflies and some have a surprising number of stoneflies. Some bigger systems have excellent October caddis hatches in the fall.
The lower you get in systems, the better the hatches are in my opinion. This is the type of stream I'm taking about with resident trout.
SF

 

[Salvy]

Thanks for the info. I do have a love of turning over rocks to see what is there. My fishing buddies here always make fun of me for this, among other things (vest, busted wading boots, busted truck, long hair, Jim Beam instead of Scotch, etc., etc.)

 

[Richard Olmstead]

Welcome in advance, Salvy.

What some have been alluding to with respect to west side streams is the fact that rives on the west side of the Cascades drop swiftly from melting snowfields to the Puget Sound lowlands so quickly that they don't have a chance to slow down, warm up, and grow enough algae to support a rich aquatic insect fauna. The result is a smorgasbord of many different species (stones, mays, caddis, etc.) all in relatively low abundance. The result is that the fish rarely become picky and require matching any hatch. Rarely doesn't mean never, but most of the season one can get by with a few attractors and generic patterns. The other effect is that there are not a lot of fish or very large fish in these streams. Historically, these rivers have been home to anadromous fish (including 5 spp. or salmon and steelhead), which don't rely on biologically rich natal streams for their growth.

East of the Cascades (from the east slope all the way to the great plains, really), the streams that rise in the mountains find themselves in lower gradient environments where they can warm up and produce the sort of food chain needed to support a diverse and rich insect fauna. This is enhanced by the warmer summer temperatures that continental climates have. Here you will find streams where the fish have the luxury of becoming selective on a particular species or even life stage of a species, resulting in hatch matching madness. Of course, most of these rivers rise in mountains where they are close to melting snow and have high gradients, so you will find a mix of stream types in eastern WA, ID, and MT.

In Washington, the Yakima river, which is about a 2 hour drive east of Seattle, is probably the best known trout stream where matching the hatch often makes the difference between a great day and a so so one.

Dick

 

[seattlesetters]

DFOD?...

Dry flies or die.

 

[Preston]

Although the relatively infertile streams of western Washington are not quite so impoverished of insect life as some would have you believe, they do, exhibit a relative poverty of resident fish. While you will find plentiful numbers of small fish in most of our streams, many, perhaps most, will be immature steelhead, sea-run cutthroat or salmon. This relative infertility of our rivers and streams has led most native species to adopt an anadromous life style; hatching and, in some cases, rearing for a period in fresh water before seeking the more bountiful pastures of saltwater inlets and the ocean.

The sea-run cutthroat, my number-one choice of species to fish for, probably represents the best "trout fishing" that western Washington streams have to offer. Entering some rivers as early as mid-July and continuing to come in through the late summer, fall and even winter, though they will not spawn until very late winter and spring, are most often fished for using attractor patterns, but unlike steelhead and salmon they continue to feed actively until close to their spawning time and will react extremely well to nymphs and dry imitations. Yellow Sally stoneflies and caddis, and the Lesser Green Drake mayfly, and the cranefly during the summer months, the Giant October Caddis of late September to early November as well as blue winged olive mayflies as the water begins to cool toward late fall and winter can all provide excellent dry fly action. This relative homebody, who rarely wanders the saltwater beaches for more than thirty miles from his natal stream during this annual sojourn, which usually lasts only a few months of each year, can potentially reach a length of twenty inches and fights as hard as one would expect from a saltwater migrant; putting any of his inland cutthroat cousins in the shade (who says cutthroat can't jump?). Of course, in the waters of Puget Sound (and all of the Salish Sea; whose 7000 square miles of sheltered waters incorporate Puget Sound, Hood Canal, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and waters north into the Strait of Georgia) you have the unique opportunity to fish for them along the beaches as well.

 

[Salvy]

To all that replied; thank you tons. Great information and enough tempting pics to get me itching. I can't wait to submerge myself into an entirely different ecosystem with different fish species and different, specific tactics.