Brodhead super hatch - June 6 2013

Rain and drizzle started today at around 230 pm. My wife knew I had that look in my eye so she let me head out fishing! I can't say enough how good fishing is on overcast rainy days. I saw the birds hovering over the stream as I put the Honda in park.  Fish were actively feeding although I didn't know for sure what they were targeting the whole time I fished. Fortunately, that doesn't generally equal a skunking. I expected BWO's like other rainy days. I noticed small BWO's right away (size 18-20). Small BWO's don't normally come out until the early fall or so I thought. Nonetheless, there were caddis of course and as my time on the stream lengthened, a larger mayfly began to emerge and the fish went nuts. I caught a couple of the mayflies and I'm pretty sure they were slate drakes, roughly size 12. I remember slate drakes being pretty active last year on the Brodhead as well.

I brought 6-7 to hand with the below bow being the largest. I didn't take the time to measure it since it was already stressed. The stream is getting warmer and it took me a while to land it. I caught it on a size 18 bh pheasant tail under an adams parachute size 14. I believe that was the first trout I've caught on a dropper and the big bow actually "surfaced" to take my bhpt as it was only 12 inches below the adams. I hooked into an even bigger brown right before I left at 6 pm. I would estimate it went 20 inches while the bow was high teens. The brown got off as I was getting him close to the  net. I was fishing the opposite bank of the stream so I had to deal with current as I landed him. That combined with my drag not seeming to function smoothly prevented me from getting him to the net. Yes, no blame on me! haha. Today consisted of lots of bugs and I saw lots of fish with some real big ones exposing themselves. I wish I could fish every day because I'll be thinking about it tomorrow when I'm work. Tomorrow's forecast is calling for light rain again! Early quits?

Almost looks like a steelhead