brooke340
- Jun 7, 2023
- 3 min read

Think Inch Worms

It feels like we are on a roller coaster flying down hill into summer. All of the beautiful spring hatches that we love so much are gone for another year – Quill Gordons, Blue Quills, Hendricksons, March Browns. It went fast. But early summer is pretty good too with sulfurs, slate drakes and Light Cahills. While our water is low, it's cold, and fishing is still productive. We're seeing the first of the inch worms and that has been Barry's go-to fly this week. No doubt about it, it's a wonderful time to be on the water.

Think Inch Worms

from Barry

It's early June here on Fishing Creek and unfortunately, we are faced with lower than usual water levels. The only good news is the cold nights are keeping water temperatures cool enough to fish. With gin clear water the trout are more selective than ever. Sparse sulphur hatches bring up a few fish at dark but successful day time offerings are mostly terrestrials. Black and and Cathy’s Super beetles and are always good choices. But there’s another ace in the hole pattern that has kept my guiding clients happy. Any ideas? It’s a simple terrestrial pattern that works wonders during the summer months and one that I have written about in a number of fly fishing publications over the years. By this time I’m sure some of you have guessed, it’s our sinking inch worm.

I’ve spent the last three days guiding friend and client Mike Blacharczyk, who now is a true believer in the inch worm. I am not sure haw many trout we have put in the net but under the current stream conditions it’s a respectable number. Simply put, trout love to eat inch worms whenever they are available. Our strategy has been to use one of our new indicator flies on top with a 26 inch tippet dropped below and a size 12 sinking inch.

Sinking inch worms have had a place in my summer terrestrial fly box since I was a teenager. If you live in the northeast where inch worms fall from the trees and are available to a trout in our summer season, I would encourage you to keep a few sinking inch worms in your fly box too. In my opinion, this pattern will out fish the green weanie hands down. Tied on size 12 Tiemco 2312 super sharp hook with a body of chartreuse micro chenille and a green hot bead head, they are the perfect imitation.

Hope you will try some. Check it out in the store.

BARRY

Stressing Fish

We came across these statistics in a fishing club newsletter recently:

When releasing fish, please do so as quickly as possible with the littlest amount of handling and time out of the water. When handling fish consider the following statistics, which were taken after 10 minutes of exertion (fight). Trout not taken out of the water after the fight had an 88% chance of surviving the next 12 hours. Trout taken out of the water for 30 seconds after a fight have a 62% chance of surviving the next 12 hours. Trout taken out of the water for 60 seconds after a fight have only a 28% chance of surviving the next 12 hours.

Water temperature, oxygen, age of the fish, and other things will certainly come into play, but it is a reminder of how important it is as we move into summer to keep your fish in the net in the water. Use barbless hooks so you can easily remove the fly and get him back on his way handling him as little as possible.