Nymph anglers, however, usually drift big imitations on the bottom and experience excellent fishing weeks, even months in advance of the hatch. Most species have a two to three-year life cycle, so large, nearly mature nymphs are availavle most of the year, and fish are usually on the lookout for them. The best nymph fishing is two to three weeks prior to the hatch when nymphs are positioning themselves close to shorelines and during the first week of the hatch when nymphs exit the water. During this time fish gorge themselves on these big nymphs, sometimes to the exclusion of most other food sources. Golden stones usually begin hatching in early June and, depending on the location, can be found hatching throughout August.
Early summer is an exciting time of extremes in the mountain west.
Thousands of big stonefiles may dot the sky or cover lush streamside vegitation causing fish to abandon the usual caution. Weight heavily and fish along bottom rubble. Fishing Techniques Anglers often come into our Tigard, Oregon, store and complain that they fished stonefly nymphs on the Deschutes River for two days and never hooked a fish. Anglers sometimes need additional split shot, but I prefer the bead head as a first option to add additional weight. The Kaufmann Stone can be adapted to represent any medium to large stonefly nymph .