We are continuing to spend plenty of time on Crane this Fall as it is a great fall fishing destination. As of this week, we are seeing water temps starting to drop. In some areas, the water temp has dropped to 41°. However, in other areas of the lake, the water temps range from 45° to 51°. So needless to say, things are getting COLD!
There are still a few callibaetis hanging around and hatching throughout the day. We are seeing a midge hatch as well but these midges are tiny! So small that you would almost believe they were not real bugs. We have been getting good reports that bugger and leech fishing near Quinn has been great. Fishing with a floating line or under an intermediate line, slowly retrieving black or olive wooly buggers and leeches have been an effective method. Fishing under indicators in the flats will be your best bet to get into fish. Fishing with size 14-16 pheasant tails and size 18-20 zebra midges in purple or black.
Fishing a dry dropper this time of year can be effective still. We are seeing a few big bugs flying around. Some stones fluttering over from the river and October Caddis starting to pop around here and there. FIshing a size 8-10 black chubby or paracricket is a good go-to dry fly to have as your top fly in a dry dropper set up. Fishing 5x fluorocarbon subsurface is paramount. Other droppers we have been fishing are size 18 dark assassin, size 18-20 tailwater tinies, and size 16-18 red or black copper johns.