Worm Hatch #5

[Worm Hatch Inspector]

5/11/19 Worm Hatch #5: Today I didn’t feel like going, walking out onto the marsh in the full hot sun. So I took a nap, and then had an early steak dinner with double-dark chocolate gelato for dessert—that should get me in the mood I thought? I arrived late which is unusual for me, and then took a slow amble instead of the usual forced march. Upon arrival at 4:15 there were 3 or 4 stripers already swirling. An hour and a half later as I was about to leave, there were about 30 fish busting away at the spawning worms. After I caught and released 27 fish, I made myself stop—the largest was 26-inches. The bigger fish should arrive just in time for the late-May tide cycle. Later, when I closed my eyes to go to sleep, all I saw was the vivid and animated vision of rise-form swirls dancing in my head.

Worm Hatch Inspector

 

[sixwtslinger]

Thanks for shareing. Worm hatchs are impressive. So what would your favoite worm pattern be? (I'm still using a simple wisp of glow yarn learned from Ken Abrahms some years back.) I see allot more elaborite patterns these days.

 

[Worm Hatch Inspector]

These 2 are the main flies that I use. Recently I tried the Page Rogers worm fly and that worked really well. I will be trying a 2 fly rig next time that the fish are not hitting at all. The first one side and bottom view is my Woody's Whisker Worm, and next Woody's DNA worm fly, both recipes are in the book, the cover is shown in my avatar.

 

[marty mcfly]

where's the fish porn?

 

[Worm Hatch Inspector]

5/18/19 Worm Hatch #6: Today I was jumping out of my boots with anticipation for hopefully another worm hatch, especially after 6 days of cloudy, cool and rainy weather that dropped the water temps below 60˚. The weather turned favorable just in time for the next high tide cycle. Today’s high tide was at noon, and with a full moon as well. So I dug deep into my notes and stat sheets from past years to see what would be possible today. I had two locations that took place on a full moon with a noon high tide, and that also started as early as 4 pm. One location was in a backwater bay, but it may have already happened there during worm hatch #5? The other location was in the far backwater cove of a salt pond at the mouth of two salt marsh ditches. For a change, I wanted to check water temperatures at two locations before I met my buddy bill at 3:30. When I got to the ditch at 3 pm, there were worms already streaming out with the tide, headed for the salt pond. At the mouth of the ditch there were a couple of stripers already swirling. Three o’clock is now the earliest hatch that I have found. The water temperature in the ditch was 72˚, with 67˚ in the salt pond. I met Bill at 3:30 and we headed to the first location on my schedule, using the ditch site as our backup plan. Since we didn’t find anything at our first location, we left there at 4:30 and headed for the ditches for a sure thing. Starting at 5 pm, we cast to reluctant stripers, I started out with the Page Rogers worm fly and couldn’t get a hit, so I started using a two-fly rig and began getting a few hookups on the sinking dropper fly. For the dropper I was using my pink DNA fly, and for the trailing fly my semi-floating Woody’s Whisker Worm. By 6 pm, I had landed 6 fish, 3 on each fly. At 6:15, now with the sun sinking lower in the sky, the fish started hitting aggressively and I was able to catch and release 6 more. I left at 6:45, after a very satisfying outing on a beautiful day.
Worm Hatch Inspector

 

[Rip Tide]

The thing about the worm hatch is that it's practically impossible to replicate the mating dance that the worms perform.
Spinning around in a circle.
IMO, the Reverend Mother's Velvet Cinder Worn is too stiff to even come close to the action your fly needs.

Believe me, I'm no expert on this, but I carry 2 flies.
A surface fly with a spun deer hair head (red, w/ black nose) and a maroon marabou tail.
And my "super secret" sub-surface fly that's your basic woolybugger.
Maroon tail, red body, brown hackle.
At any rate, the worm hatch is a tough nut to crack.

 

[Ard]

I've been waiting to hear your weigh in on this one.

 

[Worm Hatch Inspector]

My experience with hatches tells me that if you get there late, on a sunny day, and there are millions of worms, is when you will sometimes have trouble getting hookups. I don't usually have that problem because I always arrive early when it is first starting. There is a lot to learn about worm hatches for sure.

 

[Worm Hatch Inspector]

5/20/19 Worm Hatches #7 & #8: Today’s, Monday forecast was for a mostly cloudy day, so I was not expecting much. It turned out to be partly sunny in the morning, and full sun from 11-5. The previous day was mostly cloudy with a few breaks of milky sun, so there was a chance that something might happen. The water temperature had dropped 9˚, down to 63˚ when I measured it Sunday evening from a reading of 72˚ in the ditches, the day of hatch #6 on Saturday. The water temperature from today’s sun had gone up 5˚ to 68˚, which was perfect for this salt pond to cause a worm spawn. I was headed to a lee shore cove where I had found hatches in previous years. On the way, I passed over a culvert and foot bridge and noticed that the tide in the creek was starting to flow with an outgoing tide. I had seen worms in this creek before but did not see anything as I passed by, and so didn’t give it any further thought. I arrived at the lee shore cove at 4:15 and found an old wooden box that had washed up above the high tide line. I set it up under the shade of a red cedar tree and took a break. I had hoofed it out here with just knee boots, as they are easier to walk in than waders. Most of the time, I can fish from the salt marsh bank. At 4:30 I saw the first swirl, and upon closer inspection saw the first worm. The hatch started out slow and stayed that way with not many worms—a mini hatch. With more sun tomorrow I expect to see a major hatch here. The clouds rolled in at 5 pm, and I ended up catching ten fish. The hatch here lasted until 6 pm, and with thunder heads approaching I started my walk back to the car. When I got to the creek, I looked over the side and the water was full of worms heading out with the tide into the salt pond that I was just leaving. The source for these worms was from another brackish salt pond a half-mile further up the creek. I followed the creek to the mouth where it entered the salt pond that I was leaving and there were stripers blitzing on worms. This location was a lot more dynamic than the calm lee shore cove. A 25-knot SW wind was blowing in my face, and I did not have waders. So I waded out on the sand bar as far as I could in knee boots, with whitecap waves lapping at the tops of my boots, and began casting straight into the wind. I caught and released another 7 fish here. If I had waders, I would have been able to reach the larger swirls further out. The wind was picking up with the approach of the storm front and a forecast of showers at 7 pm. So I had to call it a day and headed for home, quite satisfied and thankful for today’s unexpected and exciting double-header outing.
Worm Hatch Inspector

 

[Worm Hatch Inspector]

5/21/19 Worm Hatches #9 & #10: Today’s hatches happened exactly the same as yesterday’s. I expected to see a higher water temperature today, but it was exactly the same at 68˚. The only difference was that the lee shore cove stared 50 minutes later today, and for the windy creek mouth I changed into my waders. I spent an hour at each location and had a total of 24 fish. Here is a good example of 3 different locations so far happening in the same salt pond. This is a fairly large pond, and I expect I can find two more locations that will happen over the course of the rest of this week. It is not done until the last hatch happens near the entrance, closer to the source of colder water during late May. At the parking lot someone asked me if I had caught anything—with my buff covering my mouth as an excuse, I just shook my head no.
Worm Hatch Inspector

 

[Worm Hatch Inspector]

5/22/19: Did not find a hatch today, even with the third day of full sun to help. The water temperature actually dropped one degree to 67˚. There was a strong cold wind all day from the NW and NE that switched to a light sea breeze in the evening. I wandered around the marsh and tried blind casting my worm fly, and that surprisingly produced 5 fish. So far this season I have had 4 mini- hatches due to the cool, cloudy and rainy April and May we have experienced. Last year I had 3 mini-hatches and 2018 was a pretty lousy year for worm hatches, with only a total of 6 hatches found, and the first 3 did not have any stripers present. If the sun helps out, some good tides will continue into early June, if not, I expect a few more mini-hatches maybe. In the past, I have had many outings where I did not find anything. If I should be so fortunate to find my 11th hatch this year, then that will be my 100th worm hatch since 2010. That works out to be an average of 10 per year, with a high of 28 in 2014, and a low of just 3 found in 2015. The moral of the story is that it is not always easy to be successful when it comes to these mysterious events. And when you do find something, it is a pretty cool thing.

 

[Worm Hatch Inspector]

5/27/19 Worm Hatch #11: Back on track after 3 days of sun that heated the water temperature up to 73˚. I arrived at this location at 6 pm, and brought a beach chair along, because I might have to wait for a while. I had planned to leave at 6:30 if I did not see any encouraging signs, and go to another spot. At 6:20, I saw a couple of swirls, and by 6:40 I saw the first few worms, so then I relaxed and waited for things to slowly develop as they sometimes do. By 8 pm I had caught 10 fish and I was quite satisfied with that. This was my 100th worm hatch, and it was fitting that it took place at the location of my first worm hatch ten years ago. This was the 4th hatch within this salt pond so far this season, and this spot was about 150 yards from the entrance, closer to the source of cold water. Tomorrow will be a cloudy day with evening showers predicted. If the water temperature does not drop too much it might happen again? When in doubt, check it out, that is how you learn about this good stuff.