LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/728742
51 Fall 2016 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk As dusk approaches, I find a comfortable rock to sit on and thumb through the pages of my hatch guide. The bugs in the photos are strange, beautiful, and sometimes a little scary - in the pupal and larval stages. But whether winged or wormy, they all have wonderful names: Little Sister, Cinnamon, Coffin Fly, Lead- wing Coachman, and White Gloved Howdy. It seems a playful child was given the job of naming each bug. A few pages later, my eye lands on the word mythical, followed by "Super Hatches" in the description of the Green Drake dun. In the first sentence, Ames makes it clear that the myth surrounding this bug "is in some need of deflating" but all I hear is "Mythical Super Hatch" echoing inside my head. I read on—am I really this lucky? It is June - and June is the Green Drake's month to hatch! My eyes dart back and forth across the surface of the water. In the darkening shadows are pale white wings carrying bugs to their next destination. "Was that bug green?" I ask out loud before I lose sight of it against the forest on the oppo- site bank. Every moving insect that catches my attention appears to have a green tint to it. There is activity on the surface of each pool and eddy. Just as I decide that my eyes and imagination have gotten the best of me, a large yellow and green insect floats past me. There is no disputing it. It is a Green Drake. I drop the guidebook and fumble for my fly box, snap open the lid, and scan the rows of hackle, fur and feather for anything green. I find the perfect fly: a green, two-toned parachute emerger - a nearly perfect color match to the winged duns lifting sporadically from the river. Steadying my hands to tie a decent knot, I take a deep breath, strip line from the reel and cast upriver. The pleasure of having a fish rise and take a bug unexpectedly on the first cast is indescribable. Part of the magic of fishing is watching and waiting for the strike - it is always a surprise. Then - boom! The rod is bent and dancing, the line racing through your fingertips, and you are engaged in a splashy tug-of-war.