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Red Quill
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When I was 5 years old, my Uncle Britt gave me a fly-rod outfit, which came in a long, wooden box and included a hollow, 3-piece bamboo rod with a bright-metal reel, silk fly line, leaders and brightly colored, 19th century patterns like Red Ibis, McGinty, Silver Doctor, Professor, Montreal and Parmachenee Belle.
The gift turned into a life-altering experience, amazing because no one in my family fly-fished or even fished much for that matter. However, those flies in a compartment next to the shiny reel, rich tan rod and textured silk line captured my imagination forever.
Through childhood springs and summers, I used that rod with worms often enough but resorted to flies whenever possible. Pickerel and yellow perch in a nearby pond interested me the most, just for the action, but brookies, landlocks and wild browns offered an inexperienced kid a certain promise of what was to come when I was older and more skilled.
In my mid-teens, a hatch on a central Maine river caught my eye one spring, and it astounded me. Browns, brookies and landlocked salmon would key on certain aquatic insects and ignore worms. For a kid who thought bait was the ultimate weapon, "astound" is no exaggeration. This salmonid behavior lasted through the spring, so it became clear that success would depend on presenting a fly that would match the natural. That lesson would repeat itself for the rest of my life.
In those years, I began unraveling the science of matching the hatch and learned proper casting from a booklet. Little did I know then that my central Maine river was as good a place as any in Maine for a young fly rodder, and in May and again in September, 20-inch-plus browns were a possibility. Granted, for a kid, trophy browns were few and far between, but 7- to 9-inch brookies and landlocks kept me occupied.
One lesson the river taught was this: Success often depends on determining what insect or baitfish interests game fish each day and then matching a fly to the natural in size, color and silhouette. After scrutinizing an insect, fly fishers should answer five questions: What color are the wings? The legs? The tails? The abdomen? The thorax? Then, select an insect imitation to match the color scheme and make sure the fly is the right size and silhouette (up- or down-wings). With baitfish, choose a streamer or bucktail that duplicates the size, color and silhouette, too.
In any year with somewhat normal weather, a mayfly species with the colloquial name red quill starts emerging on the Sheepscot in early May and lasts about two weeks. This daily hatch begins around 2 p.m. and lasts for three hours, an exciting event for fly rodders. Red quills offer Mainers the first consistent dry-fly action of the season, explaining the allure. It is like opening day of deer season or Christmas for a kid.
Red quills often emerge on the Sheepscot on an exact date, May 7, dependent on water temperature. When a spring produces normal weather that raises the water to 52 to 55 degrees, I feel quite certain that red quills will start popping to the surface at 2 p.m on the appointed day.
The insect prefers rivers with gravel bottoms and cool water through summer. On other central Maine rivers and streams with proper habitat, this hatch starts a little later in the month, and you can follow it north right into June. I have had superb red-quill fishing on Alder Stream above Eustis on Memorial weekend and two weeks later, find this insect in Aroostook.
Most hatches are not gender specific because the males and females look similar, but this insect calls for two patterns. A Red Quill dry fly imitates the male, and a Hendrickson dry fly matches the female. For some reason, on my home river, males predominate so I call it "red-quill hatch." Females far outnumber males on the Shawmut stretch of the Kennebec, so regular members of the "Mut" crowd refer to it as Hendrickson hatch.
A natural, male red quill has medium-gray up-wings, tails and legs and a slender, mahogany-colored body. The female has the same shade of wings, tails and legs but has a chunkier, pinkish body with a subtle touch of pale olive. They're both imitated on a size 12 or 14 hook.
Modern fly rodders make a big deal out of identifying insects and knowing Latin names. I happen to be one of those nerds with an intense curiosity about determining species. However, I would be the first to say that it is not crucial to fly-fishing success. Using the matching method described above will give a fly rodder the perfect solution for each hatch.
The "red quill" hatch on my home river begins with Ephemerella subvaria, the true red quill across the Northeastern United States. Then two other species hatch later in the month -- E. rotunda and E. invaria. They all go by the name red quill or Hendrickson. On the St. George River, another species hatches later in May, and it resembles a red quill but is a different species that prefers silt bottoms to gravel. These examples put learning Latin names into perspective. No one can learn them all, so matching the insect with the size-color-silhouette formula makes sense.
During May in central Maine, I hit two important hatches other than red quills. One is called a big BWO (blue-winged olive), which emerges in conjunction with red quills. It is a size 14 with an olive body and gray up-wings, legs and tails. The third mayfly, colloquially called a sulfur dun, hatches in the evening near the end of the month, often right at dusk. It is a size 18 dry fly with a sulfur yellow body and pale gray up-wings, tails and legs. The imitation goes by the name Sulfur Dun.
In central Maine, May is the month that we day-dream about all year. It begins slow but the hatches heat up about May 10th, and for at least four weeks, fly fishing gets as good as it gets around here. Here's the best part, too.
People often make fly-fishing complicated, but a kid can learn the sport with little to no adult supervision and have fun galore doing it. I was living proof of that statement.
Ken Allen, of Belgrade Lakes, is a writer, editor and photographer. To reach him, send e-mail to KAllyn800@aol.com |
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