Fly fishing muddy streams

[Mountainbrookie]

Anybody have any tips on fly fishing streams and creeks when they're mudded up? I've never seen much surface action on them. I've tried nymphs and other sub-surface flies with no luck a few times. Usually I just wait till they start to clear before I hit them but I feel like I might be missing out. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

High Muddy water is very difficult.

The water actually irritates the fishes gills. Its like you being in smoke. Most fish dont want to eat during this time. However you can still catch some. I have.

The fly i would use is a giant white or black bugger. I usually use size 10-12 but in this case i would think a size 6 or 8. You must get the fly on the bottom and right in front of their faces.

Also if the water is very high a flowing fast, fish the slack water on the edges of the stream. Often trout will go here during such times so they wont have to fish the current and save energy.

Good Luck!

P.S. During these types of flows in larger creeks is when i head to small mountain brookie streams. The extra water in small streams makes them easier to fish, the fish less spooky and the slightly off color water makes it easier to hide from the fish.

 

[jayL]

Pound the banks with streamers. The fish sit tight to the edges in high water. I actually hope for high and muddy conditions sometimes, as it's one of my favorite ways to fish. If the fish dosn't take it in the first three or four strips, let it swing out into the main current and repeat. I fished a few miles of spring creek like this once and had a sick day. You can cover lots of water, and the average fish is way bigger than normal.

 

[jaybo41]

These guys have both given you solid information that I have also found to be true. The fish have one thing in mind right now, survival by means of finding good cover and slower water, so banks backflows, and behind rocks, logs or other obstructions are always going to be good choices. There will still be some big boys hanging out in the current, but you REALLY need to get it down with heavy weight.

 

[littlelehigh]

Not that I'm any good at these conditions but I watched a you man a few months ago fish a tandem nymph set up with the back fly being a BHFBPT. Seemed like he had a fish on every other cast I was shocked they could even see the fly wizzing by them. He had a TON of weight on. Water was very high and off color but not chocolate milk so it can be done. Gotta get it down and fast!

 

[Millertime]

If you want to try to use nymphs I would use something that is a bit more noticeable to the fish.

Bead head anything. eaiser to see and will get down faster too.

 

[Raff]

Try a Charlie Craven Pig Sticker.
http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/flybox/detail.cfm

I tie them up in florescent pink, and they slay in muddy water. The hook is pretty heavy, so you don't normally need to add weight on to it.

If that doesn't work, go with the above advice and pound the banks with some gnarly black or white streamers. I like the Kelly Galloups stuff for muddy waters.

 

[littlejuniata]

Big Browns love high water, it is more oxygenated, lots of food in the flow, once caught a nice brown on a streamer, he had a 3 inch minnow half way down his throat and still hit my streamer

I have a video on youtube showing Browns wacking Sulphurs when the water was so high and cloudy that NO ONE was fishing


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOWLzCPWIak

that water was nearly carmel colored the vid was taken when the sun was not out notice how quick and active the fish are

A different day water was up and very cloudy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnvdRSNyB9Q

 

[SonofZ3]

2 years ago when I was doing GPS mapping for the State Parks system I stayed in Kooser State Park for about a week while woking out of Laurel Hill and Kooser Parks. The first couple days I was there the water was CLEAR. Size 20-22 hard bodies ants were the only thing I had any responses to, and I still had a lot more refusals than takes. Then it rained, hard, and Laurel Hill Creek came up and looked like chocolate milk. I fished a size 6 yellow and brown conehead bucktail streamer to those same "picky" fish and had one of the best evenings of fishing I can remember. The same fish that were skittish less than a day before would chase the streamer down, and slash at it 2 or 3 times before finally getting hooked. I haven't had a repeat preformance here on the NW streams I fish, but that evening certainly changed my mind about the viability of fishing high muddy water.

 

[AlwaysWading]

When you can see mud rather then water, it's best to kick back and fish another day. First off if you are wading, you are guessing where your next step may take you. Plus the fish really don't like the mud. But if you are in a I will fish no matter what, then big, big, big flies that might catch the attention of some trout sitting by a rock trying to wait for better feeding opportunity.

 

[Broy]

C'mon guys, get creative!

When it is muddy and high, find new ways to catch fish.

Like lasso-ing them around the tail!

:-? i thought it felt weird during the fight...

 

[littlejuniata]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfO_Cv66t7c

 

[troutslammer]

browns in high muddy water , which they don't seem to mind i guess i would pull a muddler minnow or clouser from my fly box or white wooly with crystal flash !!!! just my .02 $

 

[bam]

Good advice above.

Use larger than normal nymphs or big streamers with flash or beads. Get your nymphs deep or fish close to the banks when possible. Sediment wil start to settle out of the very top of the water column in slack water along the banks. This is where the fish will be. Smack the surface with terrestrials or streamers. I'd also check the mouths of smaller tribs that add clearer water

 

[dryflyguy]

I've had some surprisingly good dry fly fishing in muddy water.
As little juniata pointed out, they'll take sulphers on top in those conditions.
I've also had some great fishing on Penns during the green drake hatch in chocolate colored water.
The fish will still rise in the slowest pools, and along the bank.
And they are a lot less picky

 

[flipnfly]

i was always told during high water fish the slack on the edges and bottom if the current wasnt too strong and to use bigger brighter flies yellows and whites and chartruse are the most productive for me i like clousers and a bucktail jig in high muddy water

 

[troutslammer]

muddy water obviously has alot of silt and sand and debris in it , this kind of water irritates the fish's gills , therefore these conditions drive the fish deep into the deepest pockets where the water isn't so muddy !!

 

[AlwaysWading]

When fishing in muddy streams, go bigger which allows the fish to sense or see the movement in the water. Of course there is a limit to how muddy the water should be before you call it quits. you could fish muddy water all day because it looks inviting, but there may not be anything there, of course you are getting casting time, and you are in the stream, which is better than sitting inside watching tv.