Article 46: Late August Report and Fall Outlook

Greetings from the Canyon!

August and Summer are coming to an end as the mornings and evenings have a little chill in them now. This brings mixed feelings as shorter days usher in the fall season. Soon, the Trico spinner fall mornings will be but a lingering memory of 2026. The anticipation of blanket Baetis hatches and spawning colored Brown Trout more than make up for those wonderful summer days. 

This late summer fishing has been fantastic. The river traffic is light to say the least. We had a little cool down earlier this month that seemed to recharge the hatches, fish and river. In the last week we’ve been able to do some fishing of our own (rare this season) and have found rising fish throughout the day. Mornings still bring the daily Trico dance and the challenging, but addicting sessions that go with it. Afternoons as of late, have a very strong Pseudocloeon (Pseudos) hatch that gives us suitable targets. I believe there is a bit of a misconception about Pseudos. More on that later. Evenings in the canyon offer caddis, Mahogany duns and some unidentified (by me) larger mayflies that look like PMDs. In the hatch gaps we throw hoppers, short leash nymph, and streamer fish. I love the “dog days”. It truly is my favorite time of the year. 

In late July we had our Dry Fly School with Dave Stewart from Wet Fly Swing Podcast. It was a great time with great people. The lodge was full of new guests and good energy. We had great learning experiences on the water with Trico sessions and lots of stories and laughs in the evening at the lodge. Dave was a fantastic host and spent some time in the boat with us. We’re doing it again next year so if you would like to be a part of it, give us a call, text or email. The dates are June 27-July 1, 2027. 

During the last few weeks, we’ve hosted old friends and made new ones. It’s so much fun to watch these fish eat and play the dry fly game. Lots of “oohs”, “ahs” and laughs on the near misses and successful hook ups. The Trico game is all about convincing the fish they are eating the exact same thing that they’ve been eating for the last 2 hours. Watching the fish finally eat a piece of someone’s art on a hook is everything. The hook set, fight and netting can happen or not. The victory is the eat. Play the game. Enjoy the success. Learn from the failures. Repeat. We love it!

The Pseudo hatch is, in my opinion, the most underrated hatch on this river. Yes, the duns are tiny. Think size 24-26. The fish eat a size 20 or 22 with a tall, visible wing just fine. Also, there are those in the area that say only small fish are eating these bugs on the surface. I beg to differ and we have experiences and video to prove it. The thing I love the most is this hatch gives a bridge from Tricos in the late summer to Baetis in October. Just what us dry fly junkies need to keep that fix. 

Some days the fish are eating hoppers well, some days it’s just a hopper watch. Not really any factors I see that change if they eat or not. Maybe they’re eating on their cheat days. Shallow nymphing is effective. Most are running with some sort of crayfish imitation as their big fly. This is an underrated, enjoyable technique to get crazy eats, bonefish-like runs, and airborne trout. The streamer bite gauge is turning towards the red mark. The tug is the…. nope, can’t say it. I see some running deep nymphing rigs right now. I can’t give you a report on that because I haven’t. 

Now, looking towards fall. I think it’s going to be epic. We’ve experienced strong hatches throughout this season, and I don’t think that’s going to change in the next couple of months. Pseudos, Mahogany Duns, caddis and hoppers will keep the surface fishing excellent through September. That is also one of the historically best months for the subsurface lovers as well. Deep rigs, shallow rigs and crayfish rigs will all be used and successful. Browns feeling the spawn coming and rainbows trying to put on some more weight will make the streamer fishing heat up.

The question of the fall is always when will the Baetis show up in numbers that drive all the fish to the surface. The answer is in water temperature. We’re looking for the mid-fifties to really get them going. Last year it was mid-October. It can be as early as mid-September. It just depends on weather conditions. One fall storm can drive the temps down 5-8 degrees. We have plenty of bugs to cover us until that comes. But I really think the gorgeous days of September and October will be ones to remember. 

We still have some availability in the coming months before we close on October 31. Please reach out if you have a time in mind.