10:01 AM
Matthew Supinski's Gray Drake/Selectivity/Nexus Blog
( After a week long heat wave, we now have perfect cool ,wet weather setting up for the massive Gray Drake hatches-J.G.Miller nighttime emergence image in a swamp along the Muskegon-'The Phantom Hatch')
Did you know that the most dense Siphlonurus hatches in the world occur on the Rogue, Muskegon, Pere Marquette and Little Manistee rivers in Michigan? ( according to several international entomologists that have visited us). The prime wet damp cool weather Michigan is noted for is upon us all week and the hatches will have blizzard potential. Note: they will fall early due to cooler temps.- mid 60's F high- 40F at night.
Our micro-ecosystem of Michigan is very similar to the Baltic sea coastlines of sandy soils, dense forest of conifers, birch and hardwoods, tannic colored but alkaline rivers of extreme Mayfly ephemeroptera populations. Countries like Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Latvia, Estonia ,Lithuania , Russia etc. all have Siphlonurus and Siphlopecton in mass quantity.
When I lived on my Dad's farm in Poland as a little boy, the wild browns/sea run browns and Atlantic salmon that resided as parr and adults and migrated the waters of the Wieprza river we were on, all took advantage of the immense hatches of these gray and cream banded mayflies I now clearly recall . REMEMBER;YOU WILL NEVER SEE A DUN- ( any comments?) They use the wet, root filled woody debris shorelines /cedar swamps and backwaters to crawl up on land at night to hatch. Even though the spinners deposit eggs laid in the gravel riffles, their nymphal migration will start early in late winter towards the sandy /detritus back eddy shorelines for emergence. Our rivers embody that structure.
( A typical Michigan/Sandy Soil/woody spring creek in my backyard haunts- this one right down the road from our lodge. Typical of what you would find in the Baltic corridor ecosystem- ideal Siphlonurus habitat )
( a gorgeous 20" trutta that took a drake on the Muskegon)
Cheers!- get out and enjoy the next 4-6 weeks of hatches.
Na zdrowie and cheers!
Matt
The trees and lodge this morning- 5/21/- covered with last nights emergence- they typically emerge 2 A.M till dawn)
( freshly hatched morning wall spinners- when we opened the doors of the lodge back in 1995 one morning the enetire lodge turned gray from the mayfly spinners on it, thus we named it the Gray Drake )
( What spinner flights can look like on cool evenings and mornings- they are gray blizzards!- here on the Muskegon several years back during identical conditions)
( browns up to 20 inches will focus on the prolific and mass quantities of the
siphlonurus- this one took a spinner on an early cold morning spinner fall)
( My latest gray drake spinner imitation- deadly for very fussy spinner eaters)
( But take notice: the sheer volume of spinners on the water will have many sink below and have trout totally focused on submerged patterns- here is a cool /simple sunken spinner imitation that works well)
EVENT REMINDER- JUNE 3RD/4TH- GRAND RAPIDS, MI : To learn more about Michigan hatches and fussy trout tactics and cool new fly patterns , my two day 'Selectivity -Trout/Michigan school/clinic', with Nomad Anglers on the Rogue River in Rockford and at their shop in Grand Rapids, is the perfect in-depth setting to up your trout game- click on link below and RSVP-see you there!
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