Early season Stone Flies.

Early season Stone Flies.

In my neck of the woods of Northwestern Pennsylvania and like most of the East coast free stone streams some of the first insect hatching we see are Stone Flies, crawling atop the snow near the banks on those sunny warming days and clumsily flying threw the air, increasing the heart rates of fisherman everywhere. The winter is over, our waters are warming and the Stone Flies are first to arrive.

For me and my home waters of  Oil creek the first Stone flies start to appear from the beginning of March thru April, they range in sizes from a #20 - #14  black, rusty red, yellowish orange and brown bodies are typical. Hatching can be unpredictable as is the weather during these months, watch the forecast and stream flows, hatching usually begins in the later morning as the temperatures rise. In years past I have fished good hatches the first week of March, This is unusual but it does happen.  Being in the right place at the right time has a lot to do with successful fishing, I am always checking stream conditions, walking the banks, peering over bridges trying to predict when the day will come. When that day does come there are some advantages to fishing early season hatches, the biggest being that the fish have not become shy to are fisherman ways, there has been times where I was able to fish extremely close to rising trout with out spooking them, all seeming to busy sipping away at these delicious offerings to care of my proximity. Another advantage is that fly patterns don't need to be overly complicated, simple imitations will take these hungry fish all day. Attention is still needed in presenting good drifts and as time passes are underwater friends learn quick so take it while you can.  Cold mornings, frozen fingers and patience all play there roll in early season fishing, the pay off can be big, not another fisherman in sight, eager winters hungry trout the water strewn with stone flies erratic in flight, dropping to waters surface in attempt to become warm enough to fly. With only a couple simple patterns you can be successful and enjoy one of my favorite often over looked times of year, here are the patterns I have used for years on Oil creek to bring me success in the early season.

Biot stone

 Here is the only stone fly nymph I use tied in sizes #18-#12 using 2XL nymph hooks, I usually weight this fly with lead wire, instead of wrapping around the hook tie the wire in at the rear of the hook to one side, lay the wire along the side of the shank opposite of you, as you wrap make sure the wire does not twist to the top or bottom of the hook. About a third of the way back from the eye bring the wire over the shank and again wrap the wire to the side of the shank facing you, now you have created a nice profile and added weight. I dress this fly using goose or turkey biots for legs and tails and a natural turkey fan feather for the wing casing, I always tie in three sets of legs and cases. For the body I mix natural grey squirrel under coat, super fine and a peacock spectrum blend dubbings. 

Grimm's wet stone

One of my favorite ways to fly fish is swinging wet flies, I like tying them and cant believe how productive and exciting they can be to fish. This is also true when it comes to fishing stone flies, I tied this pattern cause of my dislike for fishing nymphs and love for swinging wet flies, the results are good the wet stone works. I tie the Grimm's wet stone pretty much like a classic wet fly, i like to use a 2XL nymph hook sizes #18-12, using turkey or goose biots for a tail, for the body I use my stone fly dubbing mix of squirrel, super fine and peacock blend same as the biot stone pattern. A couple wraps of tinsel either in gold or silver to keep things classic and a wing of grizzly hen hackle with a starling hackle wrapped in front to top things off. Simple, beautiful and I love it.

Turkey tail stone

My go to stone fly its durable floats well and catches fish, tied on standered dry fly hooks #18-12, here the body is dubbed in rusty red using black hackle over the whole length of the body. Trim the hackle on top of the fly level with the body so that the wing lays over it with out interference in the way a stone flies wings cover its body. use head cement to harden the turkey tail wing and let completely dry before tying on, the width of wing depends on the size of fly, the wing should wrap slightly around either side of the fly and show a nice profile from below. I use natural white tail deer hair for the over wing, elk could be used here if that what is available to you, when the hair is trimmed I leave a bunch over the eye of the hook, I like to think it represents the square like head of a stone fly. Push up with your finger nail against the bunch of hair and make three or four wraps of thread behind the eye before you wipe finish, this will help keep your hook eye free of material. Grab ahold of the over wing of hair and pull towards the rear of the fly apply head cement to the thread wraps and work a small amount into the hair, this makes the fly much more durable and help keep the hair laying over the body creating a better silhouette.

Parachute turkey stone