We started with a float on Sunday prior to Memorial Day. Due to dropping water levels and rising temps, I feared this may be our only opportunity. Fished with Stimey, DaveS, ElijahK and Ines from the Capra Inn. Floated mainstem and encountered a very cool scenario. Wind kicked up and was blowing big golden stones off the banks and into the water. The fish responded by blowing them up. It only lasted for a few minutes but was something to see. Basically dead all afternoon. Low water, bright sun, hippiefest and not many bugs. Late in the day, the lid came off. Sulphurs, Grey Fox, several caddis species, spinners, etc. Hooked several fish but zero to net.
Monday, did a little exploring on upper WB and EB. Caught one nice brown but again, quiet due to low water and bright sun. That evening, I took everyone to one of my favorite pools on the lower EB. No bugs...no rises until 15 minutes before it was too dark to see. Dave had crossed the river and wasn't seeing any risers but I had my nephew below a spring seepage where the water was 3 degrees cooler. We must have had 15 fish in casting distance. Landed on good brown, missed several including a fish that snapped my 4x like it was 7x.
Tuesday, back to explore upper sections early in the day. Pretty quiet again. Hit the same sections late in the day and the fog was too thick to see a fish feeding more than 8' away. I could hear tons of fish feeding but couldn't see ANY of them. Just stood there for hours and lost interest when the fog got even thicker.
By Wednesday, it was just me and the nephew. We tossed in a round of golf rather than try to fish 70 water in 86 degree humid temps. I still saw several guys out there and they probably accidentally killed whatever they'd hooked. That afternoon, brief storm got the bugs kick started. We landed a few in a riff on PT nymphs. Just at dusk we had a few coffin fly spinners. Pricked a few in the mouth or hooked briefly and then lost.
Thursday, skipped early fishing and went up river to hopefully find the heavier spinner fall of drakes. What we ended up with was Sulphurs, caddis and a few leftover MB spinners. Caught a couple little guys in the 10"-11" range. Hooked 1 real heavy fish but the hook bent and came loose. The nephew landed a nice bow nymphing and I was afraid it wasn't going to make it after the battle. I held him in the current for 5 minutes and he never tried to get away. After I felt he'd recovered, tapped him on the tail and he jumped out of my hand / swam away.
Friday, did an early float since the flow was up a bit and the cool night dropped the water temp to 62-63. We only had 2 1/2 hours until the sun baked the river to 70 degrees. We caught a couple browns in the 17"-18" range but decided to simply row out rather than injure any fish in the harsh conditions.
To sum it up....probably the most awful conditions and fishing I've had up there in YEARS if not ever. Luckily, they got a bit of rain (very little) and some cool temps w/ cloud cover. That's dropped the temps into high 50's on most waters. Hopefully they get some rain or a bit more water let out of the dams. At these flows, anglers need to check water temps every 60-90 minutes. When in doubt, don't fish. Protect the resource first.
Monday, did a little exploring on upper WB and EB. Caught one nice brown but again, quiet due to low water and bright sun. That evening, I took everyone to one of my favorite pools on the lower EB. No bugs...no rises until 15 minutes before it was too dark to see. Dave had crossed the river and wasn't seeing any risers but I had my nephew below a spring seepage where the water was 3 degrees cooler. We must have had 15 fish in casting distance. Landed on good brown, missed several including a fish that snapped my 4x like it was 7x.
Tuesday, back to explore upper sections early in the day. Pretty quiet again. Hit the same sections late in the day and the fog was too thick to see a fish feeding more than 8' away. I could hear tons of fish feeding but couldn't see ANY of them. Just stood there for hours and lost interest when the fog got even thicker.
By Wednesday, it was just me and the nephew. We tossed in a round of golf rather than try to fish 70 water in 86 degree humid temps. I still saw several guys out there and they probably accidentally killed whatever they'd hooked. That afternoon, brief storm got the bugs kick started. We landed a few in a riff on PT nymphs. Just at dusk we had a few coffin fly spinners. Pricked a few in the mouth or hooked briefly and then lost.
Thursday, skipped early fishing and went up river to hopefully find the heavier spinner fall of drakes. What we ended up with was Sulphurs, caddis and a few leftover MB spinners. Caught a couple little guys in the 10"-11" range. Hooked 1 real heavy fish but the hook bent and came loose. The nephew landed a nice bow nymphing and I was afraid it wasn't going to make it after the battle. I held him in the current for 5 minutes and he never tried to get away. After I felt he'd recovered, tapped him on the tail and he jumped out of my hand / swam away.
Friday, did an early float since the flow was up a bit and the cool night dropped the water temp to 62-63. We only had 2 1/2 hours until the sun baked the river to 70 degrees. We caught a couple browns in the 17"-18" range but decided to simply row out rather than injure any fish in the harsh conditions.
To sum it up....probably the most awful conditions and fishing I've had up there in YEARS if not ever. Luckily, they got a bit of rain (very little) and some cool temps w/ cloud cover. That's dropped the temps into high 50's on most waters. Hopefully they get some rain or a bit more water let out of the dams. At these flows, anglers need to check water temps every 60-90 minutes. When in doubt, don't fish. Protect the resource first.
