Did anyone make it out this weekend? I couldn't. I was stuck at home doing homework. The quarter is coming to an end, and there's a lot of work to do. Hopefully I'll be able to make it out this coming weekend.
__________________
"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
JT, I had my equipment packed and was ready to go until my grandson came down with the flu. Both Saturday and Sunday I looked out a the wonderful weather and wished I was on the stream. Hope someone made it out and stuck some fish. Dennis
Went out on monday with my brother. Stuck a nice 17 incher and one 20 incher both hooked very lightly and released. Beautiful day, flows super slow, but that didnt seem to bother the fish at all. The larger fish was working the end of a riffle into a small pool. Bead head tan pupa behind an attractor egg seemed the best combo. made my 3 wt real scream when he hit the current. Beautiful fish. Would post pic but dont know how.
I also feel bad for my brother, because as he was taking my picture with the fish, I stepped on his new sage 5wt. =( Good thing for warranties huh? I made sure I went home and registered my new outfit that same night. =P
Moved up to the dam, and saw lots of fish rising. Couldn't match what the take was, but we tried every dry fly we had with 20 droppers, adams, ehc, mosquitoes, and some others. no takes. any clues?
It's hard to say exactly what kind of bugs were hatching, because I haven't fished in a couple of weeks. What kind of rises were they? Were they splashy or super subtle? Could you see the fish lift their noses out of the water as they took the fly off of the surface? Were they jumping completely out of the water? If the takes were splashy, my guess would be emerging caddis pupae. If they were subtle takes, it could have spent midges or mayfly spinners. Spinner falls can be tough to recognize because the bugs are flush with the surface film.
-- Edited by JT at 10:39, 2007-03-06
__________________
"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
I believe that most of the spawning for the winter spawners is over. I'm thinking that there could be some spring spawners in the creek with the multiple lineages of rainbow trout that exist there. Somebody else probably knows a lot better than me, though.
__________________
"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
they seemed to be mixed rises. the most were the "belly roll" where you just see them turn. On occasion some of the smaller guys jumped completely out of the water. Maybe a mixed hatch? Anyhow, on the slow water I was able to have very long dead drifts with absolutely no drag.. still no takes on the dry or dropper. am I missing something here?
They could have been focusing on emergers, either mayfly or caddis. If they're feeding just under the surface film on rising insects, a surface fly may not work. The emerging insects are more vulnerable than an adult on the surface. The fish prefer the easiest catch. It requires less energy. What kind/size of dropper were you using?
-- Edited by JT at 11:45, 2007-03-06
__________________
"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
I fished sunday, started up near the bridge, alot of fish rising, very sutle rises, I could just see a swirl so I think they were feeding on emergers, got one to hit on a #20 griffiths gnat, but didnt stick em, moved down to area #1 even more fish rising down there, the rises were so sutle that I think they were feeding on emergers just under the surface and the swirl I could see was from there tail when they would turn around and head back down, again had one hit on a #20 griffiths gant, and one more hit on #18 black mayfly imitation, missed both fish, was not using a dropper on this day. I probably should have had 6x tippet on, but I stayed with 5x.
I was using size 18-20 droppers.. tricos and pts. Whats the best type of presentation when they are just below the surface like that? Swing a spinner or something? Yeah there were several times during the hike I inhaled a mouth full of gnats.. lots of activity indeed.
In response to the questions on spawners; a good number of smaller fish are spawning in the lower half of the creek. Keep an eye out, don't fish for them when they are on the redds. As for the bugs, the creek is full of caddis at the moment. I was poking around during the week and found the rocks covered with pupae.
When the fish are feeding just below the surface, they can be feeding deeper as well. For this reason I have caught most of my fish using a nymph and indicator rig. If you know the fish are hanging out just below the surface, that type of setup will drift below them--not good. Then, I would use a dry/dropper rig. I would use a micromay, fox poopah, or bead head midge dropper, depending on the insect activity. I usually just use the dry fly as an indicator, because most of the takes will be on the dropper. Being able to recognize the different species of insects and the various stages of their life cycle can help a great deal. There have been a few times when the fish were feeding consistently on the surface, but I couldn't tell on what. It wasn't until I got out of the water that I noticed the mayfly spinners on my waders. They can be hard to see in the water. Sometimes the trout just key in on them.
__________________
"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
