A Coffin Fly Evening

Caylor Custom Coffin Flies

I love to fly fish and more-so love to fish the Green Drakes. i made the realization this week that I hadn't had the experience since June 3, 2009. That isn't a good feeling once it sinks in. It kind of makes one sad. I f one has to live and work in West Virginia; it should be guaranteed that you should have the time to enjoy the wonders of the state. Time to go and gas money seem to effect everything these days. It isn't good. I know that the Green Drakes should be hatching between Memorial Day and the 10th of June. Well, I apparently missed it or it hasn't started yet.

When you hit the spinner fall, it is a sight to be seen and it will stick in your memories for the rest of your life. Thousands of big mayflies laying eggs and then dying tend to bring every fish in the stream to the surface to feed. I thought I had made the hit; but it didn't happen. There was a March Brown hatch at 6:30 and a few Green Drakes were mixed in. The March Browns were dragging their nymphical shucks on their legs as they hatched and flew into the trees. I thought that was odd; since I had never seen this happen before. After a little hindsight; I guess the water was a little cold. I have never seen any March Browns of any numbers when I was Green Drake fishing.

I fished until 8:00 and had only caught 2 Smallmouths. One group of Green Drake spinners flew upstream and I thought the magic was about to happen. It didn't. There were only 50-75 drakes. Not the thousands I was hoping for.None the less it was on. The trout started rising; not many but here and there. I had my Coffin Fly already on and was actually ready. I managed to catch my limit in the fleeting light; but it wasn't easy. Number 5 was a Golden Rainbow and it flopped off when I got it to the bank. I was trying to grab it and stepped on my fly. I tried to fish the fly; but of course it would no longer float. It took me about 10 minutes to get the leader through the eye of the next fly. It isn't good getting old; but I did manage to catch a 16 inch rainbow for fish number 6 in the black dark. This was on Thursday June 5th.

I took a friend on Saturday June 7th; knowing that several trout were at that location and hoping that the Green Drakes would cooperate. I timed it so we would be at the good place at 8 pm. I got that sick feeling in my stomach when I walked down there and the entire bottom of the stream was covered with corn and fish heads, Gotta love West Virginia trout fishing !!