Fly fishermen are probably the only people happy to see bugs in the summer. That's because of aquatic critters known as mayflies, of which trout are most partial.
Of greatest importance, perhaps, is the "Green Drake" (more correctly, the hexegenia, or hex), which appears in the lakes and ponds of the Northeastern U.S. when conditions are favorable.
Although the trout have been nailing other mayflies and caddis flies by this time, the Green Drake (more yellow than green, actually) is particularly attractive to the trout -twice the size of most mayflies- and to the fishermen because it offers excellent dry fly fishing. One can even hear the Drake's wings popping open from thirty feet away.
It's the one time all season when even the very largest trout will be feeding on the surface, and your best chance to hook a two or three pound brook trout.
What's more, you may be the only one on the water because they begin appearing in the early evening when most other fishermen have packed it in.
The two weeks bracketing the Fourth of July will be the best time to get into this; one cannot become more specific because the weather gets a vote. If it's been warm and dry, be ready by the last week of June; if it's been cold and rainy, the days right around the Fourth of July will be best.
There's nothing subtle about this fishing: you'll be tossing number ten flies twenty feet with whatever rod you have that can do this best. There are many hex imitations that will work-track a fish if you can by lining up a couple of rises, and lead it as you would a duck.
Floating a large, pale yellow fly (with clipped wings) in the surface film is productive too. Keep your fly in the air, false casting until you see a rise, and hit it at once.
Also, a fact few fly fishermen know: the nymph or underwater stage of this evolving insect is gray, not yellow and certainly not green. If you see boils without bubbles, get a large gray nymph out there as fast as you can; let it sink two or three feet and begin a twitching retrieve. This will give you an extra half-hour before the adult insects are drifting on the surface.
Your best bets in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont: Bald Hill Pond, Newark Pond, Ewell Pond also Willoughby Lake - just about wherever trout are found in water reaching the low sixties, and at drop-offs, where a gravel bottom comes up to about six feet from the surface. They can also be found in the larger streams and rivers in New Hampshire and Maine, but it's the still water action that will get your heart pumping.
Geography plays a part as well. If you can get into the Rangley Lakes area of Maine, or in the Androscoggin River near Errol, New Hampshire you might find the hatch in late June; if you wander further north into Baxter State Park or the Allagash Waterway, plan to be on or in the water during the first week of July. Allagash Lake, Chamberlain Lake and Kennebago Lake are all very good, but the key remains the same: water that's clear, clean and cold. If it's pure enough to hold trout, it's probably home to the hex too. Call ahead to a local tackle dealer if you can, and watch the weather reports. Finally, if things look good, be sure to stock up on the favorite patterns, including a gray nymph.
