Prospector
Well-known member
Time Fished: 315pm - 645pm
Weather Conditions: 72 degrees and sunny
Water Conditions: 56 degrees, a little high and off color
Insects: Nothing in quantity but a nice variety. Caddis, stoneflies, Blue Quill spinners, some other mayflies,...etc. I saw about 10 rises.
There were no vehicles in the parking lot so I had the whole Fly Fishing Only project to myself. Since this section gets only browns, I was geared up for streamer fishing. A few hundred yards below the bridge a long slow pool maybe 150-200 yards long sits. This hole can hold a lot of fish. The big pool is followed by a series of fast riffles and pools with decent depth.
I started at the top of the slow hole where hemlocks protect the fish from aerial attacks. Some of the limbs are only a few feet above water so some casting windows are very small but you can navigate around them. I placed my fly in the hemlock limbs about 10 times but was able to work it loose each time (a miracle). I made 5 passes under those 3 hemlock trees trying different styles and colors of streamers to determine what the fish wanted. The obvious winner was a sz 6 Olive Wooly Bugger stripped like a streamer. In general it seemed like the trout favored darker colors over light. In the process of testing flies I caught 6 browns.
After 5 passes, the fish at the top of the pool became disinterested in streamers, so I moved down to encounter a new set of fish. The new fish were more eager to attack the fly and did so repeatedly. Unfortunately, they didn’t take it as much as they chased and harassed the fly. They were after the bugger nearly every cast. In the final hour and a half I caught 19 more browns for a total of 25.
The fish are solid, football shaped trout. Strong fish that are thick across the back. They are a joy to catch.
Wading can be tough here. The slow hole tends to have a sandy bottom that can easily change after storms and includes a fair number of logs and debris in the stream bed. The faster runs have a good current and are sometimes tough to determine depth, so just careful as you wade. Also the giant logjam can be an inviting place to stand to fish. Understand that not all logs are locked in place, some move in bad directions and I almost launched myself in. In addition to the danger, it’s a pain because your fly line gets sucked into the jumbled mess making it difficult to unravel.
It’s a stream that has a lot of character. Some nice, some not so nice.
Weather Conditions: 72 degrees and sunny
Water Conditions: 56 degrees, a little high and off color
Insects: Nothing in quantity but a nice variety. Caddis, stoneflies, Blue Quill spinners, some other mayflies,...etc. I saw about 10 rises.
There were no vehicles in the parking lot so I had the whole Fly Fishing Only project to myself. Since this section gets only browns, I was geared up for streamer fishing. A few hundred yards below the bridge a long slow pool maybe 150-200 yards long sits. This hole can hold a lot of fish. The big pool is followed by a series of fast riffles and pools with decent depth.
I started at the top of the slow hole where hemlocks protect the fish from aerial attacks. Some of the limbs are only a few feet above water so some casting windows are very small but you can navigate around them. I placed my fly in the hemlock limbs about 10 times but was able to work it loose each time (a miracle). I made 5 passes under those 3 hemlock trees trying different styles and colors of streamers to determine what the fish wanted. The obvious winner was a sz 6 Olive Wooly Bugger stripped like a streamer. In general it seemed like the trout favored darker colors over light. In the process of testing flies I caught 6 browns.
After 5 passes, the fish at the top of the pool became disinterested in streamers, so I moved down to encounter a new set of fish. The new fish were more eager to attack the fly and did so repeatedly. Unfortunately, they didn’t take it as much as they chased and harassed the fly. They were after the bugger nearly every cast. In the final hour and a half I caught 19 more browns for a total of 25.
The fish are solid, football shaped trout. Strong fish that are thick across the back. They are a joy to catch.
Wading can be tough here. The slow hole tends to have a sandy bottom that can easily change after storms and includes a fair number of logs and debris in the stream bed. The faster runs have a good current and are sometimes tough to determine depth, so just careful as you wade. Also the giant logjam can be an inviting place to stand to fish. Understand that not all logs are locked in place, some move in bad directions and I almost launched myself in. In addition to the danger, it’s a pain because your fly line gets sucked into the jumbled mess making it difficult to unravel.
It’s a stream that has a lot of character. Some nice, some not so nice.
