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3. Sulphurs taste good.....

In the current issue of Midwest Fly Fishing Jonathan Jacobs write a nice piece about Sulphurs and quotes a chap named Brian Clarke who speculates"...that trout eat some insects more avidly than others because they taste better."

Kind of cute and I chuckled at the thought. But tonight on a not-to-be-named Northern Wisconsin river there was a very good hatch of both Brown Drakes and Sulphurs.

The Drakes were very thick and are a big, clunky fly in the #8 size range - a real mouthful. The delicate Sulphurs are a demure #18.

Fish were rising everywhere and a canoe with two dudes came floating through in the thick of things (piss me off) but I asked them how it was going as I was unhooking a buttery brown.

"No d**n good! There are Brown Drakes everywhere and we can get a rise!"

I suggested that they might try a Sulphur and the stern chap snorted "Why in the hell would any fish want to eat a Sulphur when there are all these Brown Drakes?"

I let em get aways around the bend a bit and murmmered "Cuz they taste better" and promptly set the hook into another black spotted beauty...

I have tried both types (honestly) and though I am no pea brained fish I do concure that the Sulphur is a far tastier morsel!


*originally posted on the Wisconsing Fly Fishing board*

I've heard those Ephemerellas are a tasty bunch!

I'm surprised you found fly fishermen so doubtful of the masking hatch. Too bad for them!

It's probably becuase the brown drakes burrow in the mud that they have less flavor than the sulphurs. Makes a lot sense huh? :)

On the other hand, many avid FF'ers would say trout also get tuned into specific hatches and may ignore other drifting morsels.

John S.

And this appears to be one of the first Troutnut posts after the site went live. It looks like we're approaching the 10th anniversary this summer. Let's keep an eye on the date. Perhaps a celebration will be in order. Can you locate your first post?

Hmmmm... I remember two fishing reports/stories I posted when I first found this site -I think Jason was still in Ithaca and the site was just firing up. But I can't find them and am wondering if I'm remembering correctly. I thought it was in 2005. One post was about finding trout swollen with worms after a spring rain, the other about a darn tough day in a crystal clear canyon stream when I finally caught one little trout and shouted out "ONE!" to the fishing gods, or canyon walls, whichever was listening.

I'd like to find that story "One!" since I seem not to have it anymore and would like to remember just how intense I could be -and probably still can be- when my ego (my relationship to the gods) is on the line.

I then took a hiatus from posting here and re-joined in 2010 I think.

Yes, I asked the guys if a White Wulff would make a good Ephoron imitation. At the time, I was living in Ann Arbor and fly fishing the Huron River for smallies, and there were abundant white mayflies of good size hatching. That was waaaaaaay back in 2007, if I am not mistaken...

Jonathon

I think my first post was July 22, 2007.

My friend and the most knowledgeable "keeper of the flame of original Northern Michigan fly patterns", Jerry Regan, has long maintained that sulphurs must taste better. However......

Years ago, I was fishing the East Branch of Michigan's AuSable one late May afternoon with an abundant sulphur hatch in progress. Only a few small fish rose, and I caught nothing of any size. After about an hour, while the flies were still emerging heavily, I switched to a size #10 Roberts Drake and, all of a sudden, every trout up to 20" came to the surface for that fly. I had a very memorable hour and a half with many good fish. All this in the midst of the tasty #18 sulphurs.................

Ha! I can't tell you how many bugs I've swallowed by accident over the years. I usually don't much consider the taste, most of the time trying to just spit them out...:)

Spence

I think it was August 17, 2009...I responded to a Hendrickson thread...I had been viewing the bug pics for sometime when I noticed the blog...Nearly 2,500 posts later...:)

I actually asked Gonzo how he came up with "Gonzo" and asked him if he was a Hunter S Thompson fan! :) Didn't know, at the time, his name is Lloyd Gonzales...Oops! :)

Spence

You old hippie, Spence...

;oD

Jonathon