I spent four days fishing Bull Shoals tailwater this past week. We saw the heaviest caddis hatches I can remember in some time. The hatch was late, but I will take them when we get them. There were lots of dry fly fishing opportunities, and the nymphing and streamer fishing was good also. We boated a couple of quality browns and a lot of smaller ones.

Hatch cooled Friday with the weather change. The first of the cream mayflies came off downriver below Norfork confluence also. I think they were cahills, but I just saw a few and couldn’t get a sample. Sulphurs should be starting. If they are like the caddis this year, we may not see a good hatch until mid-May or later.

Moss was heavy Tuesday and Wednesday, and high wind was a pain Thursday and Friday, but it didn’t slow the fishing much.

Fish are feeding heavily on the caddis and are fat. Browns will move into the riffles this time of year to take advantage of the hatches.

Caddis have primarily been two types at Rim Shoals: the large brachycentrus size 14 green bodied caddis and a size small darker bodied caddis with mottled wings. For dries, a darker natural deer hair caddis with a dark green body in a size 16 has been working quite well.

Straight from the stomach pump, this shows how heavy the fish are gulping these down. Separated with a little water you can see two species and a pupa shuck in the foreground. A lot of shucks in the sample indicates the fish prefer the caddis just subsurface. But the preference changes as the hatch progresses.

Good fishing!

© 2010, Scott Branyan

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