A Few Days On The River

Billy With His Biggest Brown Of The Year

   I was able to get out on the river for a few days this past week. The majority of time was spent dealing with wind, rain, and sometimes too much sunshine. The river was flowing anywhere between 750cfs-1100cfs. The water temperature ranged from 48 degrees-56 degrees.



The Browns Are More Numerous This Year

   The fishing was up and down throughout the 3 days I fished. Nymphing was ok on day #1, we moved 3-4 nice fish in one area that usually produces more action. The morning of day #2 proved to be the most consistent as I landed 9 fish on nymph's and lost 4-5 more. Day #3 was the worst, I didn't move any fish under the indicator's, my brother Bill was the only person to catch one and got rewarded with a fat brown.



Love The Pink Stripe On This Guy

   The dry fly fishing was solid and consistent, at least for casting over fish that were feeding on the surface. The March Brown hatched solid each day providing good dry fly fishing all day and evening. Along with the Big Mayfly we saw plenty of Green Caddis in various sizes, Tan Caddis in a few sizes, Sulphurs, 1-2 Cahills and also 1-2 Green Drakes. With the amount of March Browns that were hatching throughout the day I thought for sure a great spinner fall was to happen at night, we saw them in the air in limited numbers but nothing ever happened. Someone will get lucky in the next few days if they are willing to stay till dark.

This One Took Me Too My Backing

   We did catch a fair number of 17 inch fish but I was more happy to see an abundance of 12 inchers added to the mix. Last year's 4-6 inch fingerling stocking seems to be doing alright......we need it too because this year the fish are going to be 2-4 inches and their chances of survival are slim to none.



Searching The Area With A March Brown Proved Effective For This Fish

Right now the river is flowing at 750 cfs and I find if the weather is sunny the nymphing will be challenging. I would stick to the deep runs if you are going to nymph. Otherwise fishing with a March Brown dropper rig and cruising to find rising trout wouldn't be a bad option. I'm headed to Hawaii for my honeymoon and will most likely miss the Green Drake action this year, good luck to all that get to fish it, hopefully the weather holds up!



Pat With A Fat  Bow