Cold Stoned-Early Blacks Demystified

“You usually see them creepily crawling the snowy banks. First there is one, then several in a row, much resembling an endless trod into nowhere like the march of the penguins on a mission. This natural display is by the official decree of the trout gods announcing that the Plecopteran spring has officially sprung. Hence, the EBS (early black stonefly)meniscus emergency rescue service has arrived. Albeit just in time to save another stir-crazed, fishing deprived, chronically depressed poor soul of a hatch matcher, that has been pent-up with cabin fever and waited all winter for the sanity relief a dry fly fisher dreams of-the first slashing rise of a trout taking a skittering, egg-laying stone on the surface.

As another sunless, dreary winter seems to be a thing of the past, the hatch of Early Black Stoneflies and Skwala out west, brings about a celebration of renewal. They are the equivalent of a foreboding spring, as are the first robins and Kirkland’s warblers sighted by the bird feeders; along with ground-popping purple crocuses and fiddle-heads for the gardener and forager. That first slashing rise on a sunny afternoon in late winter on a long flat pool; or bubble-line eddy near a wooded shore, to a fluttering dark piece of egg-laying ash, is the adrenal opiate that jacks you up nervously and sends you to your fly box to tie on your CDC imitation with shaking hands. Equally, that black coal colored, wing fluttering dope, flows through the veins and euphorically sends the dirty, necrotic nymphing Ninjas into full attack mode. Whether in Euro or traditional Indy mode, they prepare their black vinyl and electric taped ribbed creepy crawler concoctions, for their depth charging assaults. As they nymph, swing and stutter drift their patterns in the benthos, the tonic is to eventually raise their rods in a toast to Leisenring, as they jig and ascend their nymphs’ to the surface, in order to mimic the natural jack-knifing motion of the emerging naturals. Ladies and gents!…it’s stone cold game on! ” ( excerpts from “Modern Trout Chronicles”-M. Supinski )

 The early black stone flies are literally the true “manna from heaven”, as the ova-positing females fall from nowhere in the sky to the water like fluttering black ashes. As the sun warms the afternoon, the greedy browns and brookies ( rainbows usually on the spawn) lie in wait! And meanwhile our beautiful friends the trout are loving every minute of it, packing their bellies from dawn to dusk on those onyx delights that stand out like black diamonds in the snow, and against the high, chalky, snow melt-off stained waters of spring. EBS and Skwala stones as they are called out west, are an aquatic insect “super hatch” event that has to be one of my favorites, and the hungry trout that survived winter’s dormancy are line-up at the buffet they offer. However a word of caution- these trout are not easy pickings. Water and air temperatures, along with physiological metabolism factors for the trout, often complicate the rise forms for dry fly seekers. The trout are slow to react to even the heaviest hatches due to the ice cold and often high waters. Their feeding intervals on the surface must be studied intricately with patience.

One would think that the trout are easy game at this first major hatch early in the dry fly game- Wrong! One would think that since the trout haven’t been rising all winter except for the random black midge or two, they would be easy targets. But this is one of the most difficult hatches to figure out. I learned a new respect and perspective over the years that I will share. Early Black Stones ( Allocapnia/Taeniopteryx ) are extremely prevalent in most trout streams around the world. They are extremely abundant on the East Coast and Midwest trout streams, which are subterranean ground flows that run more on the Alkaline side, and have a good mix of gravel, rock, sand/silt and vegetation, with lots of wooded debris for these detritus eating mandibular shredders. February thru May: depending on where you are and water temperatures, will see their peak emergence. The manner on which this hatch behaves, which is dictated by weather conditions and temperatures , make it often difficult to predict and time-warm sunny afternoons are the ticket.

It often takes many presentations and floats of your adult natural imitation in the prefect feeding lanes, or interchanging ones, to fool the trout that often assume feeding niches in the long, flat, still pools where they feed on early hatches. Patience and observation is needed before even a steadily feeding fish commits to your artificial. In addition, the fluttering wings of the egg laying females on the surface, creates a trigger motion that lots of very selective larger trout key-in on- especially cautious browns and well-fed rainbows, and is imitated and accomplished with clumps of CDC for wings.

The little wiggling, meaty nymphs start their biological benthic drift each day and weeks before the actual emergence, as the growing sun and daylight hours start to penetrate their benthic detritus foraging grounds. A wiggle nymph stone fished tandem with scuds and midge larvae, is sinfully deadly. Or for full effectiveness, it is fished solo as the tungsten head and articulation exactly imitates the jackknifing natural.

Nymphs’ and adult females’ will have peak emergence and spinning between 1 and 4 pm on sunny warm afternoons. The nymphs start to stir when water temps hit 36F,  and start their classic ” wiggling” downstream, with the bio drift on warm sunny afternoons. They will float helplessly for miles in the frigid waters and are total targets for the trout, where they become gluttons and eat them until their bellies are distended The nymphs eventually wiggle to the shore and crawl up on the banks and go into the woods, or emerge from water – 50/50 hatch where some like water or shore. You will often see “the walk of the Penguins” as black stone nymphs walk on the snow like they are headed with some destiny in mind. Their mating takes place all  over and their coupling always baffles me ( very secretive) and how they get it done is a miracle by itself ( often I see them in the town I live in on a warm sunny afternoon at the  gas station, miles away from the river on windy days)

The best way to start fishing the hatch if you are a dirty nympher, is Euro or strike indy fishing with long drifts and occasional “twitching” of your offerings. Where you can use two flies, having your flies separated (one on the bottom, one higher up in mid-strata) so you are covering all depths

When we actually observe ” the hatch”, it is the afternoon flight of airborne ova- positing mating females coming back to lay eggs, along with those ones that are actually emerging from the water simultaneously . Their “ash-like” falls are very dainty, and come from the sky like light gray snowflakes. They float for great distances due to icy water temps if hatched from water, or egg laying. Herein lies the hatch complexity.

Slow and steady is the mantra as the trout are still in a ice cold, semi-dormant physiological state and come to the hatch slowly, and feed in such a way to compensate for biological energy conservation needs. Their sips and takes on the surface are in intervals that must be timed perfectly. The long flat pools and tight-to- the- bank back eddies behind wooded structure, accumulate the spent spinners and twisting ova-positing females into a procession that an alpha feeding positioned big trout can’t ignore. Since one would assume the lethargic scenario would dictate slow and calculated simple rise forms, exactly the opposite is true. They are fast slashing rise forms which I feel the fluttering and skittering wings of the egg laying females elicits this ” quick slashing grab them!” trout reaction.

During the dance the fluttering, egg laying females dance on the water with their wings beating continuously. Hence big selectively feeding trout use these selectivity motion signals to imprint to these trigger points that persist on the long slow glide and spins especially on long pool eddies. The worst days for the dry fly activity are windy days, where the ova-posting females will lay low in the tree/bankside cover, only taking flight when the winds die down as the sun penetrates.

The EBS

THE HATCH SKINNY-KEY FACTORS TO FOCUS ON

* Feeding habitat– Due to the usually very cold spring water temps( yesterday water was 37F, and not the classic “45-55” ideal surface feeding range) trout don’t have the metabolic luxury to hold in midstream in faster flows. Through the winter they find log jams close to shore-where the stonefly nymphs crawl up on and in deep /slow pools as food banks. It is in the back eddies/slack water where the fallen female stones accumulate in the counterclockwise back flows, and it is here where you will find the ultra selective/reflective browns at a “picky” grazing table. Her they can cruise these back eddies in metabolic comfort, usually sunning themselves and feeling the warmth. Also, since browns are very skittish critters and photophobic, the log jam provides a security blanket if shocked by an avian predator or shocked by you hooking it! The bubble line brings the steady flow and bio drift. 

*Weather is the most important factor- Wind is the enemy here. On warm spring afternoons winds are bound to kick-up, female stones hate wind as much as Trump with comb-over and hairspray :)- it blows them away from their landing strips-the river!
Time your river adventures on the warmest and wind-free parts of the afternoon. If you have wind, find places on the river where there is a shielding bluff with trees like I did yesterday- the stones were dropping like dark ash on my spot very thick, while around one windy bend downstream it was virtually empty of bugs. Also depending on wind, usually one side of the river will have the bio drift of female stones, and the other side of flow void of them. Also the early blacks are often confused for dark caddis and big bwo’s.

*Feeding Intervals/ Masking Hatch/Presentation

Yesterday, I posted that I scouted a nice brown for over an hour before I finally caught it- correct!, here is why. The surface feeding to these ova-positers is in long, slow flat/slack water. There were hundreds of bugs on the water and yet  no rising going on- I was baffled! I knew the water had to hold browns but yet nothing ( common early black stone scenario) Here is what was going on:

# First and foremost, a brown trout/is not a cuddly “warm up to anything” type creature. It moves slowly, pragmatically and deliberately until all systems are “GO” ( Read about all that in my Selectivity and Nexus Books) Also since they are slowly trying to awaken their metabolism in the frigid waters, sometimes they are not warmed up yet, and ready to start feeding on the surface. Plus, the water surface is still a strange and foreign territory to them after all winter dredging bottom for food ( the water I caught my fish was at least 5 feet deep) That surface orientation will only get stronger as the season and hatches progress. Then the chosen modem/(predator foraging profile-PFP) for browns will be the surface.

# A massive factor is river traffic– the Muskegon tailwater yesterday was a zoo with jet boast, drift boats, moon rovers, jet ski’s, wading anglers – a true warm spring break freak show!-Christ!- I was waiting for Elvis to appear! Everyone was driving 100 miles an hour looking for steelhead as I stalked the back eddies like an old gray bearded heron in search of rising trout. Every boat put some  “footprint wake/noise vibration” that every brown trout from youth to adulthood can detect , especially in the flat still waters where they hunt these prey. Once the boat traffic and noise subsided( around 5 PM) and the winds died down to almost nothing-BINGO!, there came the first two risers in a spot I’ve been starring at forever, and ready to pack it up and call it failure ( couple the noise/vibration and sun!- not good combos, but the sun helped get the metabolism going!)

A smaller 10 inch brown started feeding first. I had to make at least two dozen presentations over it before it took- than God!, I wasn’t skunked. Then Mrs. Big made her presence. The first few rises were barley dimples, like a chub, then I saw a big tail and back and that quickly got my attention. It was taking wiggling stone nymphs under the surface, and simultaneously taking adults on top. The rises came  in very long intervals- 5-8 minutes, if not longer, It was the slow metabolism and water temp that was causing the fish to move, digest and rise slowly. Also their was a tiny black “masking hatch ‘ of midges going on, and I saw that fish rise several times to a spec on the surface( midge). I made at least 30 plus casts and drifts to that fish, until BAHM!, she took it, and ripped me into my Abel reel drag and backing. I lifted anchor and drifted with the fish or I would have broken it off- she dove right into the current fast.  After she jumped totally airborne upon hooking, the net came out and she was one of the finest selectivity games I ever played- loved every second of it!

 Presentation-Even though they will be taking a good number of upper meniscus nymphs wiggling below it, stay with your big fluffy CDC dry- they will eventually succumb to its meaty nature! I tried a dry /dropper, but I was confusing this big selective bastard brown  and just causing drag by the two fly rig.
Use 18 foot leaders if you can with 5-7 feet of 4x tippet( no lighter!- early spring fish are not that selective to tippet sizes –yet!), since you have a crack at a 20 incher plus on this hatch. Throw big “puddle casts” high and letting them fall in a pile to let the backwater, tricky counter clockwise currents unravel your leader ( I learned this from Marinaro on the Letort back in my youth) Let your drift/ floats go for long distances, stack mending as the fish will do complex and complex rises due to having plenty of time and no current.

The Hendrickson’s shouldn’t be the hatch you wait for this spring-get out and get cold stoned!

See you on the water at the Gray Drake with me www.graydrake.com for some amazing spring and summer hatch action to come. With the low-clear waters we have experienced all winter we are in for a parade of heads poking the surface for sure!- as bright chrome steelhead continue to arrive. After my last fall’s exploration and success of swinging October caddis for steelhead on the surface, I will explore the tremendous opportunities this hatch of black stoneflies also brings for skipper steel chrome in the meniscus. Also, except this hatch to start early and endure longer with the tremendous changes in weather patterns we have had this year, which waxes and wanes the hatch based on the weather.

Cheers! Matthew Supinski

Also- check out my new series starting March 15 on Hallowed Waters Podcasts called : “Matching the Hatch- The Ritual from a Seasoned Guide’s Perspective https://open.spotify.com/show/5jeEdcGqhGMZFn0xMcLZOj