Where I live, the trout are plentiful but the hatches aren't. As a result, I have become quite adept at catching fish when no hatches are present and I kind of like it that way. Yesterday, I worked my favorite stream bringing about 12 wild browns to hand. As I fished, I thought about this thread and realized what my favorite hatch was.
My success began this past weekend when my mother-in-law's misery became my delight. She told some of her plants were loaded with
Popillia japonica, the dreaded Japanese Beetle. I knew at that point, MY favorite hatch had begun!
As I enjoyed myself yesterday, I realized that this kind of fishing is way more appealing to me for a lot of reasons.
- The fishing is consistent with a regular pace of a fish or five an hour, as opposed to the wild frenzy of a hatch which generally means a prescribed amount of time, sometimes in low or no light conditions; typically including selective fish, tangled leaders, frustrating searches for the "right" fly; accompanied by frazzled nerves and maybe only a few fish.
- When I fish a hatch, I'm more or less staking my claim to a section of a most likely busier than normal stream. During beetle time, I have much more solitude and as a result I tend to cover more water discovering new sections to explore.
- Simplicity is beautiful! I subscribe to the chow line analogy when it comes to terrestrial fishing, "this ain't a Greek diner with a ten page menu, you'll eat what I give you!" Because of this, I use only one beetle pattern, tied in only one size, made of foam which floats forever.
- It is idiot fly-fishing at its best. I move along the stream looking for holding spots, making searching casts while keeping an eye out for risers. If I get multiple refusals from a selective fish, I move on in search of morons.
- No fancy casts or tackle tricks are required. Since real beetles land with a "plop", your presentations can make a splat too. That means you can pass off your sloppy casting as technique. Did I mention that this same technique can still be effectively employed or even improved upon, despite consuming multiple beers at the car before assaulting the fish?
- The dumbing down of the fly-fishing process continues with the fly choice. Beetles are not watershed specific. They work EVERYWHERE! You don't need hatch charts, stream thermometers or alarm clocks to know when it's time to go fishin', they work almost all of the time. There is no knowledge of entomology, taxonomy or Latin required with beetle fishing. When somebody encounters you on stream and asks what you're using, you can reply, "a bug." Shoot, you don't even have to know how to tie flies; just get some hooks, a couple of coffee beans, a tube of epoxy and you're set!
But the biggest reason I like the beetle hatch most, is because it's best in the summertime,
"when the livin' is easy..." The pace is slow and leisurely which gives me time to enjoy life, my surroundings, smoke a cigar, sip some Bourbon from my flask or follow the progress of the rapidly ripening raspberries along the bank.
It is the relaxation that is always there when I’m sitting in a chair fishing worms under a bobber, the same relaxation that seems eludes me when I'm changing flies every fourth cast trying to figure out a fish during a hatch.
It's the relaxation that allows me to fish at my pace, on MY schedule.
It's fly fishing...
...just the way I like it!
