Mother’s Day Caddis (in graphical form)

Following a fun day of fishing on the McKenzie River last week — during which we ran into a great hatch of the famed McKenzie Green Caddis — I recalled another early-May day on the Yakima River in Washington with my friend Keith, some years ago. The photo above is from that day, when we (unintentionally) came upon a staggering Mother’s Day Caddis hatch.

Coincidentally, the same day that I was on the McKenzie, another friend of mine, Marc was on the Yakima and I received the following text from him about his day of fishing:

Fishing, by the way, was incredible. Dead slow from 10 - 4 but from 4 - 8, off the charts. Landed two fish among many which had me well into my backing. Plus glorious weather.

The text brought me back to the day Keith and I spent on the Yakima and I recalled that our fishing that day was exactly the same as described by Marc: despite an absolutely prolific hatch during the day, we couldn’t buy a rise or a fish until sometime in the late-afternoon. And then, when shadows started to hit the water’s surface and the hatch died down a bit, it went off. Until dark we hooked fish after fish and I suspect we would’ve continued to do so, had our take-out not appeared. The photos on my phone are an accurate summary of the course of day’s fishing activity:

• 10:52 a.m.: a picture of Keith casting

• 11:21 a.m.: another picture of Keith casting

• 11:41 a.m.: picture of a swarm of caddis

• 1:34 p.m.: a picture of a swarm of caddis

• 4:36 p.m.: a picture of a swarm of caddis

• 5:08 p.m.: a picture of Keith holding a rainbow trout

• 6:02 p.m.: a picture of numerous rise rings on the water

• 6:22 p.m.: another picture of Keith holding a rainbow trout

• 6:57 p.m.: a picture of me holding a rainbow trout

• 7:12 p.m.: another picture of Keith holding a rainbow trout

• 7:22 p.m.: a picture of a rainbow trout in the net

To understand the density of this hatch, check out this Instagram video, posted recently by Red’s Fly Shop, which is located on the banks of the Yakima.

It all makes me wonder. Why don’t the fish feed (on the surface, at least) during the day and height of the hatch, when there’s food everywhere? Is it to do with sunlight on the water? Too many bugs? The stage of the hatch? Something else?

Revisiting and wondering about that day on the Yakima got my wheels spinning about all the elements at play. Perhaps the variables could be charted, in hopes of learning something? Here then, in graphical form, is a rough visual representation of my experience with the Yakima River Mother’s Day Caddis hatch which, from what I can tell, was pretty close to Marc’s.

Of note:

• Rapid decline in understanding after arrival, to be reversed only after the sun dipped below a certain point and/or the hatch intensity diminished to a certain level. (This is when we started hooking fish.)

• Rapid increase in fishing productivity coinciding with the points described above. (I don’t think we actually ‘figured’ anything out; rather, the conditions changed to our favor.)

• Constant enjoyment, despite changes in understanding and productivity (and beer consumption).

• The best fly fishing is everywhere!