No Bugs?, Siphlonurus sunken Impressions- lethal wet swinging when no spinners fall

(my Gray Drake Super Submersible- lethal swinging when nothing is happening!- great for all banded-bodied/segmented mayflies/drakes)

How many nights or mornings ( drakes BTW spinner fall at both times) have you driven to the stream or walked down from your cabin/lodge saying... " tonight/this morning will be the one!- the hatch /spinner fall will happen and I will get my 20 inch brown for sure!..And?, the weather turned crap; too much wind, too hot or too cold, started to rain etc. With climate change's ups-and-downs  it's always something and nothing happened, or worst yet bugs came out but didn't fall- sucks right?- here is the solution.

Once the gray/green/brown drakes start to hatch and emerge will easily last for a few weeks (siphlonurus drakes on my Muskegon and Pere Marquette, East and West Coast  waters along with other Baltic/Scandinavian country hatches) and up to 4-6 weeks on cool damp springs. the selective trout get quite imprinted to barred and banded mayfly adults, spinners and the nymphs. Unlike other drakes that emerge from the surface, Gray Drakes swim to shore during dusk and thru the night to hatch on damp wooded debris and grass along the shorelines, only to come back to the rivers surface at dusk and dawn to spin/mate and lay eggs. That is when the football splash-like surface explosions occur. Drakes couple in the air and drop quickly to the surface and often leave airborne several times, thus they can be tough to grab for a trout until fully spent which sums up their robust rises.

( Early morning fat truttasaurus spinner sipper while others were still sleeping from going to bed late and fish-less, chasing the midnight spinner fall that often yields tough returns)

But many nights there are tons of "bug karma/sex synergy" of mating swarms in the air but no coupling occurs due to cold air coming in quickly, too hot and sunny etc.- its a real tough one to hit it just right! Hunting this hatch for 30 years I've come to at least 80% accuracy in my predicting this "prime-time" to be on the water, but that 20% inaccuracy is getting bigger, again with the uncertain weather patterns and water conditions of climate change that even has the bugs confused as much as us.

When the hatches are thick for weeks like on the Muskegon. the surface will be carpeted in drakes like sawdust clumps and often make imitations useless. The bigger selective trout imprint to this food form and also target the shorelines where they emerge. Also due to the density of this hatch, many spinners sink and get water logged. They become very appealing due to their sheer numbers.

When nothing is happening on the surface, my "Super Submersible" pattern will bring rod-jolting strikes in the middle of the day since it imitates the migrating nymph and sunk spinner, plus soft- hackle swingers will love to swing these.

 I use a long Thomas & Thomas 12ft /3 in./3 weight-Contact model, which lets you feel the fly and swing in an unparalleled manner through technology that didn't exist years ago, coupled with my Abel. 

Good luck! 
Matt Supinski

FLY RECIPE
Hook: Daiichi 1260
Thread: Uni-Black-3/0
Tail and Body: Nice thick Hareline Gadwell Duck feather nicely barred, planted with tail and center of feather situated flat on hook as you Palmer the black thread around the feather in a uniformed banded distance covering length and circumference around hook
Thorax: Hareline UV Peacock Ice Dub
Wing: Pearl Krystal Flash
Hackle: Hungarian Partridge
Bead: Black Tungsten 

Get more in-depth with this subject and more in my books!

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Matt Supinski Brown Trout-Atlantic Salmon Nexus book , may fly hatches , mayflies of Michigan , muskegon river fly fishing , Selectivity book , siphlonurus gray drakes

The Gray Drake mayfly hatch is here!...come experience this amazing big brownie dry fly nirvana -Also my favorite recipe!

 25 years ago we named our lodge and outfitters "Gray Drake Lodge" for a reason. The Muskegon River has one of the most dense and long lasting gray drake mayfly hatches on the planet! Only the Pere Marquette and other nearby rivers sourcing   from the same marl bog watershed have these hatches in such density. Baltic countries also have them. When we opened up our cedar lodge during the hatch in early June, the next morning the entire lodge turned gray from all the adult mayflies molting on the cedar panels and tree trunks from the previous night's hatch.

( insect images by bug master JG Miller)

( Morning and early evening spinner flights were gray blizzards last year)

( Freshly hatched gray drakes molt on the lodge and trees nearby. The Muskegon browns that take drakes can be ultra selective and have stunning colors brought on my heavy protein overloads from salmon/steelhead and sucker eggs and scuds in winter )

This spring 2020 (June when we open back up) we will be offering single/double  and small group Gray Drake Clinics. 
Our focus will be on dry fly and swinging emerging wet fly guide trips that incorporate school-like clinics on how to better understand the dynamics of this "mystery hatch", which the famous Dick Pobst once described it in an article in Fly Fisherman in the 90's. Many anglers are confused about the drakes and are usually baffled by their behavior, how the trout take them, what presentations are best and when to strike the hatch right! We will attempt to teach the the selectivity approach to mastering these hatches and a 20 inch brown on the dry fly reality!

These  larger mayflies bring up the big browns that are often elusive all year other than on the streamer. But the intricacies of the hatch and how selective browns feed on them is a cloaked mystery to many anglers.We have been studying these hatch details for two decades and would love to share them with you!

Last year (2019) we saw one of the heaviest gray drake hatches we have seen in over 15 years- it was a solid morning to dusk  spinner flight event that coated the water thick as sawdust with spinners. 2019 had a long cool and moist spring/early summer which favors the gray drake hatch cycle.

(A few fat butters from gray drake season )

The hatch cycle of Siphlonurus has been a mystery since you will never see an adult dun on the water. Thanks to the bug doctor:Johnny Miller of Catskill fame, who worked at the Gray Drake Lodge for many years, he uncovered the mystery. Honing the darkness middle of the night hours and shorelines/ swamps of the Muskegon's banks, he found the nymphs to swim like minnows and crawl up on shore in the middle of the night and hatch and fly off in the brush ( midnight till just before dawn). Johnny, as in the style of Caucci and Richards, photographed them hatching in his aquarium tanks- here are his images 

( nymph here crawling up on wet stick)

Besides the other local hallowed Pere Marquette river that has dense hatches, the Muskegon hatch is a 4 week long magnificent display of nature like no other! The Siphlonurus mayfly ( rapidus, alternatus, Quebencences ) is a true #10 sized mayfly that is perhaps one of the most elegant mayflies and has blizzard flights in both the A.M. and P.M.- most only think of dusk!

FLY PATTERNS

I have taken my gray drake patterns developed over the last two decades to new heights recently in my #browntroutatlanticsalmonnexus and #selectivity book fly patterns. Using new materials I've incorporated realism and imitative search patterns that target predator forager feeding profiles during the hatch period.  The larger selective brown's feeding can take on unique on preferences and key in intricate spinner patterns , sunken spinners and wet swinging articulated swimming  patterns. As the hatch thickens their selectivity rises and can take on "hair pulling" frustration. Our clinic trips will teach the intricacies of these patterns and how to present them.

MY FROSTY HEMINGWAY DRAKE RECIPE  (From my Nexus Book)

The realism and effectiveness of this pattern is truly remarkable! I have been perfecting gray drake patterns for over 25 years and this is beyond the best!

Thread: Light Grey

Hook: Daiichi Short Shank Dry wide-gape 1110

Tail/Body: Frosty Flies Realistic extended body Mayfly foam-Gray Drake -size Medium

https://frostyfly.com/

Thorax: Hareline Ice Dub UV Peacock

Wings: Organza Dun with Light Dun Hackle

(Here is Rich Felber's magnificent 28 inch beast of a brown taken 2019 on my Gang Bang double. Rich has been an awesome gray drake chaser for years

and is one of the fishy-ist dudes I know!- that was the biggest brown taken on the gray drake spinner fall last year!)

(Drake magic time)

A BROWN TROUT FISHERY HAS BEEN UNLEASHED

( Going a full year now with the TYPE III regs and safe to say, is working very well and the larger browns are now becoming a strong year-class)

With the new trophy 15 inch brown regulations now in place for two years and the amount of 13-17 inch browns and 20" er's we have taken on nymphs and streamers this past winter and during the early black stonefly hatch on dries, the trophy brown fishery is ready to explode on the Muskegon! 

My Final Thoughts 

This 2020 spring, as we struggle to get back and re-open our services and everyone's lives to some semblance of normal with all the Covid pain and anxiety everyone has suffered, there is hopefully exciting things to come! For those that have been blessed with survival and my condolences to those that have lost loved ones ( I lost a cousin I played with in Poland as a boy, a strong, healthy, rugby playing Doctor to this terrible thing last week I am sad to say) I pray good things will be brewing despite our hardships.It has taught me, and hopefully all of us to appreciate the things in life we have taken for granted: family, loved ones and the simple things like having another day on this amazing planet to see and witness the wild natural beauty that has been created for us. It has been a very cold spring which is ideal for the gray drake hatches to endure for great lengths of time.and intensity. Last year's hatch was the strongest we have ever witnessed in my 25 years on the Muskegon. It became a day-long event from morning until dusk, which I have never seen and lasted a good solid 4 weeks. The gray drake hatch will be the telltale sign of great things to come when every brown in the river will be poking their heads up to eat drakes on the surface.

Please still stay safe, strong and positive!...this thing is not over yet and lets not be foolish and careless in our actions!

Cheers!,

Matthew Supinski

 Call or email us for more info!

COME JOIN US!

www,graydrake.com

msupin2583@aol.com

231-250-2846

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Posted in: Brown trout-Atlantic , dry fly , gray drake lodge , may fly hatches , michigan fly fishing , muskegon fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , Nexus book , siphlonurus gray drakes

The Gray Drake Hatch 2019 has been insane!...without doubt the heaviest hatch I've witnessed in 20 years!

                                     

  ( A stunning Muskegon brown that destroyed my #NEXUS gray drake spinner- the spinner falls in the mornings and evenings have been tremendous- that is an understatement!)
Without doubt, the gray drake hatch of 2019 has been the most intense I have witnessed in 20 years. A very cold/cool damp moist spring, very heavy water flows all winter and spring and last nights 36F and cool days are favoring the mayflies and trout in a big way!

The perefect conditions are in palce in 2019 for amazing hatching by Siphlonurus. As you know, the nymphs emerge on land at night, thus full banks with lots of water and overhanging tree/sandy bank structure is ideal for them.

 Last year 2018 was one of the worst emergences since the river was dry, the heat went to 89-90 F in the middle of May when the bugs emerge and literally "burned up' the hatch before it was spinner bound ( enough eggs can replenish the hatch even when on minimul levels ) but total 100% hatch and spinner flight success takes place when all conditions -(moisture/cool/full river flows) takes place like now. 

The morning and evening spinner falls have been sawdust blanket spinner falls and often too heavy to imitate with fly. There are so many bugs that fly around all day by the gray drake lodge, land on you when you are outside...totally insane! The big browns have come out of the proverbial wood work and are chowing down on them at a venomous rate (15-22 inchers, plus the 80,000 stocked browns and 80,000 eagle lake rainbows are going feeding frenzy nuts!

Please not that the river is now a type III trophy brown river (15 inches from Croton to Lake Michigan- watch out what the year will bring in size and growth with a cool summer forecasted by National Weather Service :)

The hatch will wane and then be replaced by our big Isonychias which are less in ### and thus these pig filled browns will come to the fly with a vengance- the next few weeks and summer looks very promising!!!...we still have openings and would love to see you at the Gray Drake!...cheers!- Matt &Laurie- enjoy the images/even the Bald Eagles are on the hunt!

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Matt Supinski Brown trout-Atlantic Nexus book , mayflies of Michigan , michigan fly fishing , Michigan hatches , muskegon fly fishing , muskegon browns , Nexus , siphlonurus gray drakes

Hatches Busting Loose !!!!

(Stunning brown on the drake spinner fall last night)

Eveything is busting loose!!!...Stunning 20 inch brown that fell to a gray drake spinner last night...sulphers, BWO''s, caddis large pteronarcyc stones, stenos....Iso's soon to come with golden stones. Great time to get young ones into fly fishing with all the stocked browns and rainbows around...lots of action- big selective browns for the seasoned angler
NOTE:FYI- I AM DOING PRIVATE GRAY DRAKE/ AND ALL HATCH MATCHING MINI-CLINICS FOR ONE OR TWO ANGLERS-CALL EMAIL FOR INFO DATES AVAILIABLE....CHEERS!

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Posted in: Brown Atlantic Nexus , gray drake lodge , matt supinski , muskegon fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , Muskegon trout , siphlonurus gray drakes

Drakes on a roll, with cooler wet weather!

( Tommy Visser with a hog of a brown on the Muskegon yesterday)

After the crazy heat wave, our weather is back to a cooler normal.Water flows and temps are prefect! The Gray Drake hatch has been on fire- am and pm, and last couple of nights have been thick with bugs. Sulphers, steno cahills, bwo's and caddis also heavy in the mix. The next two weeks will see big browns and rainbows on the surface, and nymphing in certain areas where you know who?
NOTES: We still have some good openings and if you want to really learn about the intricacies of our trout and hatches, you cant' just do it by bying a boat and having cool equipment- knowledge is acquired, mentored and fine tuned from guides that spend a lifetime studying the prey predator relationships-WORD !

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , michigan fly fishing , muskegon browns , muskegon fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , Muskegon trout , siphlonurus gray drakes

Drakes are BACK!!!!

They're BACK!!!!...Siphlonurus gray drakes- truttasaurus manna from heaven! -morning and evening spinner falls for the next six weeks- here is your chance to get a 20 inch plus brown on the dry !-one of the most intense spinner falls you will ever witness anywhere on the planet- check out or new "hatch matchers" special on our website

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Posted in: gray darke lodge , muskegon browns , muskegon fly fishing , muskegon river fly fishing , siphlonurus gray drakes

Trout maddness has begun on the Muskegon!!!!- 2018 spring hatches are soon here!

The spring hatches of Gray Drakes and sulphers are ready to begin! We are obsessed about our trout, and we treat what we do as a passion- our approach, our creative fly patterns etc., it's not just another job/ money gig as some others look at their service. Our blogs and Facebook pages show the hard core results.We also specialize in getting young adults and children into the sport- so vital for our future!

 With the amount of big browns I have been posting thus far this spring, May and June will be epic!- ...imagine catching 18-20 inch fat plump browns and rainbows on a 4 weight on a gray drake spinner or sulpher emerger- all going to happen soon!- make sure you are there to expierinece it!- we still have some good openings and with the good water flows and tempertaures, we are very excited about what is to come in the next 6 weeks!...call or email us for openings! ...cheers!, Matt Supinski

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , isonychia , mayflies of Michigan , muskegon fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , siphlonurus gray drakes , sulphers

All I can say " It's been a Trutta-truly amazing spring thus far"

                              ( Gorgeous typical over-fed brown on our Michigan 'ground zero',sandy/wooded spring creeks and tailwaters this spring-image by client Aaron Hulswitt)

All I can say is "spectacular" to describe the hatches and brown trout fishing this spring. Lots of fish common in the mid to upper teens- more fish over 20" this year than I've seen in 17 years on the Muskegon tailwater. The hatches have been 'THROUGH THE ROOF!...sulphers galore, March Browns, ridiculous often unfishable numbers of gray drake siphlonurus spinners that cover the water like sawdust- hydro and micro caddis and midge flights to the point that I'm wearing a buff on my face everyday- and the Isonychia really haven't started yet!- A very cool spring and more cool weather in store is going to make June ' amazing again!-( last year  2016 we were already in 90 F STIFLING HEAT AND WATERS HEATING UP!

Cheers!- Matt

( Distinguished east coast author and amazing world class fly caster/instructor - John Field-, who I had the pleasure of guiding for a few days last week, who wrote "Fly Casting Finesse", with a gorgeous Muskegon brownie. This gentleman embodies the essence of a true fly fishing connoisseur/ purist practitioner of all that is good in the "art form" of the sport.  )

( A typical gray drake blizzard a nightly occurrence on the Muskegon- size #10 mayflies thick like swarming black fly midge simulium over Lake Myvatn in Iceland on the Big Laxa)

( with all the naturals on the water, this spring has caused us to take our presentation game 'up a notch", being creative with all the new synthetics and time honored material combos to fool over saturated donkey truttas)

( my infamous 'gang bang' cluster bomb siphlonurus )

( my Json/natural material combo spinner- about as real as it gets!)

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , mayflies of Michigan , michigan fly fishing , muskegon browns , muskegon fly fishing , muskegon river hatches , siphlonurus gray drakes