Fly Fishing in June Podcast by Harry Murray

Trout Fly Fishing

Fly fishing in June can be very rewarding as the sulphur mayfly hatch is very heavy this month on the trout streams.  The sulphur duns start to come off around noon and the heaviest hatch of duns will be in the last 1 to 2 hours of the day–even right up until dark with the spinners coming back up until dark. In fact one stream I fish the spinner fall comes when it is almost dark so I set myself up so I’m fishing into the western horizon. This way, even after the sun is below the horizon I can still spot the rising trout in the pewter glow on the surface of the stream. If you are able plan your schedule so that you are on the stream until dark you will get better fishing.   I match this hatch with a Murray’s Sulphur Dry size 16 and 18 or Shenk’s Sulphur Dry size 16 and 18 on a Classic 9ft 6X leader.

Even though we have some extra water in these streams right now you will still need to present a drag free drift by using a slack line cast such as the Lazy S Cast or Puddle Cast.  (Listen to the podcast for details on these two casts.)

Bass Fly Fishing

Fly fishing in June for smallmouth bass is normally a great time of year.  This year we have been experiencing heavy rain storms causing the rivers to be high and muddy.  Normally we have already starting using topwater or surface bugs but this year I expect it will be the middle of June before this action starts.

A good way to understand where and how to fish the various styles of hard surface bugs is the way we teach it to our students in our Smallmouth Bass Schools. The “action” we can achieve with hard surface bugs is governed primarily by the shape of its body and the cut of its face.

• The Shenandoah Sunfish Slider has a slim tapered face which can be used very effectively to produce a gentle teasing action, which is very productive in shallow water.
• The Murray’s Bass Popper, Chartreuse size 6 has a fat body with a deeply cut face. I normally fish this toward an undercut bank where the water is over 4 feet deep.
• When I have a student or find myself fishing a variety of different types and depths of water then I use a Shenandoah Blue Popper size 4. This bug lies between the first two in body shape and the cut of its face is thus capable of producing some of the action of both bugs. It is outstanding when fished around aquatic grass beds with a slow pop-pause-pop action.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: RSS