Stoneflies in the Snow

If there is one sighting on the quinnie I enjoy the most, it might be early stoneflies hatching from the snow. Tons of them, ranging from light tan to black, from 1/8" to 1/2" littered the snow covered banks this past weekend. Its ONE of my first signs that spring is on the way. I fished from the closed river rd section to about a mile upstream for 4 hours or so. No rises, but I did manage a few small bows (including the 9" one pictured), all coming to a caddis nymph (my quinnie special). Cant wait to head out this weekend, but if the weather permits, I may head out west to the Millers, or even north to the Nissitissit. Wonder how this river holds up over the winter?

Go-To Flies

About a month ago, the central mass chapter of TU sent an email asking you to imagine being restricted to only five basic patterns on your favorite trout stream. They compiled the results by ranking the fly that showed up the most. The results weren't surprising, but it got me thinking (as it is fly tying season) what would be my 5 go-to flies for the Quinnie? The results they got are as follows: A total of 34 different patterns were mentioned. The numbers in parenthesis represent the number of times the pattern was mentioned. 1. Elk hair caddis (18) 2. Wooly bugger (17) 3. Pheasant tail nymph (14) 4. Adams (12) 5. Hare’s ear nymph (7).

If I were to do this for the Quinnie specifically, I think I'd go:

1. Wooly bugger

2. Caddis pupa nymph

3. Elk hair caddis

4. Hares ear

5. Light Cahill

Now this list doesn't necessarily represent the 5 best hatches or 5 best flies on the Quinnie, but rather, if I were to hit the quinnie at any time of the year, and could only choose to bring 5 flies, those would be the flies I choose. They are also somewhat of a personal preference, for instance I've had such good fortune with the Cahill on this river I just couldn't leave it off the list, yet many would probaly choose the Adams over that fly.

What did I miss for the quinnie? Any other good go-to flies? What about other rivers?