Thursday, April 25, 2013

Can't get much better than this!

The fishing has been absolutely awesome! The river is fishing great and the reservoir is starting to produce some nice fish as well.  Yesterday I floated with Sage and Holdan on the A section.  We had great weather and wonderful fishing.  When we got on the river there were lots of boats and kick boats.  Sage wanted to just float and relax so we took our time getting down.  I was able to land a few fish on a shallow nymph rig in the morning on the upper half  of the river.  I used a brown zebra midge with a peacock collar followed by a grey soft hackle. I only fished in the fast water between the spillway and rollercoaster rapid.  Around 1 pm I saw the BWO flies starting to fly across the air so I switched over to a cripple
pattern BWO. We had a few boats behind us and in front so we just drifted down just above secret riffle and found a sandy beach to play on.  Holdan brought some tractors along so we dug holes and built big mountains.  When most of the boats went by and the others stopped for lunch, we floated down and enjoyed the river.  Fish were feeding on the surface pretty good and I was able to land a nice brown and miss alot more.  Sage made a great cast with my rpl+ and hooked into a fish but wasnt able to keep it on.  Holdan had a hard time casting because the wind picked up but he still had a fish on for a few minutes.  They are great little casters and they love being on the water.

Today we went horn hunting after breakfast and were able to find lots of elk but no horns on this trip.  We ventured out to the reservoir and found lots of fish in the shallows so we gave them a few casts.  Sage and Holdan lost interest in the fishing so they played in the dirt. I was able to land a few nice fish and the kids happily held them up for pictures. Tomorrow we plan to go after some more fish on the reservoir.

With this great weather there is going to be lots of people out there so try and share the water and get along. Thank you for reading and tight lines!





Thursday, April 11, 2013

BWO's make me happy happy happy!

My favorite hatch is starting to kick off the season. The fishing has been great so far this season and I think it will only get better. We have had some crazy weather this week too. From sunny and mid 60's to below freezing and snowing and rain. In the mornings I have been fishing a shallow nymph rig that has been very productive as well as streamers. My nymph rig consists of baetis nymphs trailed by a cream or gray midge and no deeper than 5 feet from indicator to weight. The fish are still eating pink egg patterns as well. My streamer of choice has been an olive sculpin with a little flash in the body. I have been using the nymph rig in the swifter water and the seams of the upper A section. I fish the streaner as close to the shorline as I can and strip it back slowly with varied stripping motions. I try to be down 3-3.5 miles from the dam by lunch time so we can get right into the BWO hatch after lunch.

I have been seeing the BWO's around 1 or 1:30 in the afternoon. The film critic and hackle stacker baetis are my go to patterns right now for the hatch. If the weather allows us (wind mostly) I fish the dry fly all the way to little hole. I have been chasing the fish feeding on BWO and trying to stay well away from other boats and anglers. If the fish are not on the surface I will fish a larger BWO dry fly trailed by a beadhead baetis nymph 12-20 inches below. This seems to work great for me.

The crowds have started to move in to little hole but there is still plenty of water to fish. If your not floating and are willing to put in a mile or mile and a half hike up or down from little hole, then you can get away from people and find some great water to fish. I am sure this BWO hatch will last a week or so into the month of May. If you love fishing dry flies to large trout now is the time to get out on the Green and give it your best. Thank you for taking time to read this I hope all your fishing adventures are enjoyable and safe. Tight lines everyone!





Monday, April 1, 2013

Warm sunny days!

This week was a busy week for me. I had a few trips and they were all pretty awesome. I fished the upper sections of the river the most. The rainbows are moving onto their beds and are showing great colors and size. The browns seemed to be settled in behind the bows and really keyed in on egg patterns or larger scuds pink or peach colored. Nymphing deep was the key for me using the egg and scud was best trailed by a gray midge or soft hackle. The lower half of the river was very good as well. There was a great BWO hatch in the afternoon wich led to some great dry fly action. I used a hopper trailed by a pheasant tail bead head. When the BWO hatch was in full force we used a hackle stacker pattern and picked up a few fish on the dry.  When the day was at its warmest we had a few fish eat the big dry fly patterns like the para hopper/cricket and my favorite the Chernobyl ant. I am looking forward to fishing with some of these great people again. They definitely made my week very enjoyable. Thank you to my new friends and to those of you who read my blog. Tight lines to all!!!