May 21st 2026
It’s been a while since the last report and quite honestly this has been the most difficult start to spring fishing that I’ve seen in a long time for trout. The flooding and worm flow events shuffled the deck and gorged the fish. I spent a significant amount of time searching water for rising fish while we had strong Hendrickson hatches to little avail. Along with the water conditions and weather clashing, boat traffic was off the charts on certain rivers. Combine that with tough fishing and it made for some pretty quiet weeks on what are typically productive fisheries this time of year. It looks like we’re out of the slump for the most part - fishing is picking up and the next few weeks are promising, at least in my mind!
While struggling on the trout front, the carp fishing provided some welcomed sight fishing opportunities. A stealthy approach is one of the most important factors here. Fly placement can spook fish if too close to their line of sight - keep in mind that they may not pick up a fly directly in front of their nose. Casting just alongside the fish and leading them by 18 inches or so seemed to do the trick. Berry flies, seed pods, glo bugs, and worm imitations are a good bet. I’ll admit, this was my first year actually chasing down carp, and it was a blast. Swing on into Carp 101 on June 18th to learn more about fly fishing for carp!
The daytime bug fishing was rough but within the last week we’ve seen some good spinner falls between Hendricksons and Drakes on different rivers. The Drake windows were short yet heavy some nights. Even a trickle of bugs can be enough now that we don’t have piles of worms drifting down river to bring up some quality fish. Sulphurs are also coming off - sometimes a slightly larger pattern can stand out and produce bites for a few of the not-so-educated fish. Say a size 14 when you have size 16’s rolling down river. I’ve also seen instances where downsizing to an emerger is the ticket.
This trout was sipping on a small trickle of caddis and sulphurs in slow current and required numerous fly changes before I finally twitched the fly over her nose and she took it.
We found one fish dimpling spinners in a fast riffle that took us for a ride.
Streamer fishing has been consistently good this spring outside of the flood water window a few weeks back. Ethan found a big one on an olive fly in big wind and spitting rain.
There have been some opportunities for good bass fishing as well. Different rivers see different spawning cycles and timing. Swim flies and bait fish patterns produced some great fish in the last couple of weeks. With warmer weather on the horizon, the top water bite should be stellar.
We’ve got some great classes on the calendar so be sure to check out the lineup here: https://nomadanglers.com/collections/classes-events
Looking forward to seeing you on the water, at a class, or in the shop!