Tell you what, cabin fever is not helped by getting the text “Hot damn, drew a Smith permit for April 30”. Especially on a slow day at work when you are already thinking about fishing. As soon as Mark told me the good news, I had a map out looking over the river and was making lists of what to get.
We had a brief discussion about timing of the trip, with the worry that late April/early May might be too early. Hence the reason for the post yesterday about swapping dates (we’re still open to that, by the way). Looking at the calendar that’s not too far off…
Personally, I love pre runoff fishing. The water is in good shape. Everything is green, fresh, and growing. The early mayfly hatches can be jaw droppingly good. Most years you can have a lot of that early season to yourself, as the summer tourists haven’t shown up yet. And after a long winter of being cooped up inside levels of enthusiasm are at yearly highs.
Two of my best days last year took place in April and May. And I don’t mean just good days. I mean days that were freaking awesome. As in stand in one place for two hours and catch fish every cast on dries kind of freaking awesome. One of those days involved Mother’s Day Caddis on the Madison, and the other BWOs on the Firehole.
What are your favorite pre runoff hatches and places to fish?
