The snow has finally melted and the river is currently flowing with approximately two metres of additional water on top of the normal summer levels. It never fails to amaze me both the speed and volume of additional water than channels through Wharfedale eventually reaching my ‘home water’ on an all too often basis. The river averages around 20 metres wide with most of it having a leisurely pace of say 6km/hr. I’m no mathematician but by my reckoning, that’s somewhere in the region of 67 cubic metres of water running past any given point every single second. Even if I am still carrying a tad extra ‘Christmas weight’, I ain’t standing up in that lot! That being the case, thoughts turn, as they do every January/February, to the first of our major hatches, Grannom.
Whilst we do have Large Dark Olives, it’s this diminutive little Caddis that gets our trout looking up for the first time each season. For this reason it’s one of our most eagerly awaited events. Their emergence also tends to be incredibly reliably with hatches generally starting around the 7 April, give or take a day or two either way. This then builds with numbers peaking around 20 April. The emergence is triggered by sunlight and so to make the most of potential sport it’s a case of watching the weather forecast and being bank-side reasonably early. Without doubt there is a definite degree of ‘right place, right time’ required however the steadier, slightly deeper water below riffles, where trout have often overwintered, provides a good starting point.
In terms of patterns required, I tend to opt for three; a Resting Adult, a ‘Flutterer’ with slightly scruffier appearance and bigger footprint and an Emerger. Circa three months to go!
Resting Adult 
CdC & Elk (Flutterer) 
Emerger