FOSH
07-02-2006, 12:14 PM
Friday evening I made my first trip to Merrill specifically for the Hex hatch. The few previous visits I've made were morning-midday trips and I haven't been impressed with the fishing. This time I didn't arrive until 5:30 (still ~ 4 hrs. too early, apparently) and was committed to staying until I could barely see enough to get off the lake.
I got an education rowing around in the wind and finally took a nice cutt about 8:00 (What's with that eagle anyway? I sure hated to feel about him the way I feel about sea lions in the Columbia! :smirk:)
By 9:30 I was headed for the takeout when huge, lemon mayflies started hatching regularly and the fish woke up. In the next half hour or so I hooked 7 fish, fought 5 to the boat and unhooked 3 by hand. My largest was a rainbow somewhere between 18" and 20" that took a solid five minutes to land and all the fish were hard fighters.
At the ramp, some of the regulars were disappointed with the lateness of the hatch and the paltry response of the fish. If that was a bad day, I can't wait to see a good one! :dance:
By the way, I'd appreciate any tips on how to make the earlier hours more productive. I imagine I'll keep arriving too early. Thanks!
I got an education rowing around in the wind and finally took a nice cutt about 8:00 (What's with that eagle anyway? I sure hated to feel about him the way I feel about sea lions in the Columbia! :smirk:)
By 9:30 I was headed for the takeout when huge, lemon mayflies started hatching regularly and the fish woke up. In the next half hour or so I hooked 7 fish, fought 5 to the boat and unhooked 3 by hand. My largest was a rainbow somewhere between 18" and 20" that took a solid five minutes to land and all the fish were hard fighters.
At the ramp, some of the regulars were disappointed with the lateness of the hatch and the paltry response of the fish. If that was a bad day, I can't wait to see a good one! :dance:
By the way, I'd appreciate any tips on how to make the earlier hours more productive. I imagine I'll keep arriving too early. Thanks!