With everything from snow to 90* temperatures, May sure had a variety of weather. The fishing was just as diverse.
The small stream brookie fishing took off when these guys showed up.
Some spots were close to home, while others were farther afield. One day, I decided to hit an area where I hadn't been in nearly 25 years. It hadn't changed all that much. Any new posted signs were offset by new options for legitimate access. Native brookies were the chosen species, with the goal to catch them in as many different waters as I could in the 5 or so hours I had. A bit of a white knuckle tour! I ended up catching natives in 5 out of the 6 brooks I was able to get to.
The character of the waters varied widely, but they were all small, maybe 8 feet wide at most.
The smallest brook was less that 3 feet wide, but there were a few undercuts that held fish.
I almost went 6 for 6 on the brooks I tried, but the closest I got on the final spot was a couple of looks. Maybe this was some sort of omen.
I've fished the ponds 3 times since ice out, catching fish on 2 of the trips once the water warmed up a bit.
When everyone else has jumped the gun with mowin' and rakin',
It's time to keep your head on straight and do some splakin'
The splake bite was by no means fast and furious and the fish weren't colored up like in fall, but they were a decent size class.
As mentioned, the splake bite was a bit picky. Chucking and retrieving normally effective spoons and spinners was a zero game. I found the fish suspended about 5 feet down, which held true at shoreline drops or at offshore islands and humps (if I could reach those with a cast). The best way to work this depth layer from shore was with jigs suspended under a bobber or a flyrod at the inshore drop. Real nice pattern.
Three items on the lid of my box caught most of the fish, with the fly being a Crazy Charlie bonefish fly.
I did a little tidewater fishing for a change of pace. Alewives were stacked up in certain holding water and below barriers. They'd hit small streamers, but retrieves also foul-hooked fish. That's how thick they were. The answer was to suspend a small beadhead under a strike indicator and dead drift it. Big time fun on a 5-weight. In water with fewer fish or further out, traditonal shad darts got attention.
I did a bit of warm water fishing as well. The primary target was smallies, and I got some quality fish in flowing water. Some crappie, too. They seem to be showing up in more and more places!
Cold water fishing was tough in bigger flowing water with high flows and lagging temps. Hard to wade around freely in this.
Later in the month, we had a mini heat wave that bumped the water temps in many places. Some of my favorite flyfishing is using dries for browns after they have about a month to spread away from stocking points to smaller water or tribs higher up in drainages. It's a blast to have even a small brown (with a few brookies in the mix) shoot out from under a tree or undercut bank to nail a dry
On to June. It's been dry. Many rivers and streams are currently are only about 50% of their long-term average flow. Low water tends to heat up faster. I spot-checked a spot this morning and found a 69* water temp. A number like that hasn't historically been hit until late June. The nice cool spell we're in now should help, but water is needed,
