Some things are ever
changing, while others remain, seeming always constant.
There is that which abides
longer, though, in truth, all passes eventually. All.
Meantime, planet enfolding
carbon particulate matter takes its toll on the Pacific Northwest , which went from a dry winter, skipping spring, moving
straight into a summer of blazing, hubcap-bright 100-degree-plus days. The
trout lakes of my region, usually fishing fairly well at the beginning of July,
are as warm as bathwater, the heat-stressed trout trying to hold on,
close-mouthed, a mystery at the deepest depths. Fish & Wildlife has already
closed some of the popular summer steelhead & salmon streams, & there
will be more closures, certainly. And if we don’t get the miracle of rain
during July & August, normally our driest months, there is a chance that
all the rivers will be closed by fall.
Barely into July, there are
over a hundred fires burning in Washington
State British Columbia
Wonkiest year I can remember –
it’s like flyfishing on the verge of apocalypse.
Due to unusually high surface
temperatures, the river’s black quill (leptophlebia)
mayfly hatches, normally prolific through late-afternoon & evening, &
all day on overcast days in this season, have boiled down to a short burst in
the evening, right up against dark. Though compressed, the big mayflies &
rising trout are a reassuring constant, a reminder of what should be. And there
are some nice fish up & hunting for black quills in the near dark, taking
both emergers & duns. I prefer the dry, but when it gets too dark to follow
its drift I switch to the emerger, of which trout are more forgiving. I fish it
drifted, swung & stripped, moving, on a tight line so that I might keep
contact with it in the dark.
Black Quill Flymph
Hook: #12 TMC 200R (or
standard #8)
Thread: rusty brown
Tailing: 3 or 4 pheasant tail swords
Ribbing: yellow floss, doubled & twisted, wound over the abdomen section
Abdomen: chestnut-brown rabbit (2/3) mixed with dyed red rabbit (1/3)
Thorax: black rabbit
Hackle: furnace hen – 3 turns wound over the thorax area ~ & finish.
