fulano
03-30-2005, 04:20 PM
OK all you experts, I need a little help.
I stopped by the middle provo last night around 6:30ish just for the hell of it, to see if any fish were feeding, etc.
I was pretty surprised to see a significant number of fish feeding on the surface. For the life of me, I could not see what they were taking. There were only a few swarming midges along the edges, much less than you would normally see if they were taking mating midges or clusters. I saw no swarms of mayflies in the air above the water. I looked in lots of back eddies for signs of spent mayflies and saw nothing. The rises didn't give me alot of help because they were about 50/50 "dry fly" looking quick rises and "spinner or cluster" looking rises with porpoising. I saw one midge cluster on the water the whole time I observed and based on the number of risers I would have expected to see many if that was the primary food source.
I am guessing the fish were feeding on one of the following, in this order:
Baetis spinners
Midge clusters (maybe submerged or drowned clusters if this exists)
Midges hatching
I hope this isn't considered are report because I have the time of day in it, but anyone that has experienced this "activity" recently that knows what the insects provoking the feeding is, I would really appreciate some education. Next time I stop I will have my gear and I will fish a baetis spinner trailing a mating midge pattern and figure it out if I can. With my luck, next time I go by there will be no such activity.
I stopped by the middle provo last night around 6:30ish just for the hell of it, to see if any fish were feeding, etc.
I was pretty surprised to see a significant number of fish feeding on the surface. For the life of me, I could not see what they were taking. There were only a few swarming midges along the edges, much less than you would normally see if they were taking mating midges or clusters. I saw no swarms of mayflies in the air above the water. I looked in lots of back eddies for signs of spent mayflies and saw nothing. The rises didn't give me alot of help because they were about 50/50 "dry fly" looking quick rises and "spinner or cluster" looking rises with porpoising. I saw one midge cluster on the water the whole time I observed and based on the number of risers I would have expected to see many if that was the primary food source.
I am guessing the fish were feeding on one of the following, in this order:
Baetis spinners
Midge clusters (maybe submerged or drowned clusters if this exists)
Midges hatching
I hope this isn't considered are report because I have the time of day in it, but anyone that has experienced this "activity" recently that knows what the insects provoking the feeding is, I would really appreciate some education. Next time I stop I will have my gear and I will fish a baetis spinner trailing a mating midge pattern and figure it out if I can. With my luck, next time I go by there will be no such activity.