paragon
Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2009
- Messages
- 40
MrMustard and I hit the East and West Branch last week. Guided by the wisdom of Krayfish, we managed a few fish.
Monday we set up camp at the Oxbow Campground and fished upstream on the East Branch. Water temp was around 67. We saw a few sporadic rises, but nothing consistent. I missed one fish on a spinner and MrMustard landed two on sz 14 cahills.
Tuesday was tough fishing on the West Branch during the day. The hot weather and bright sun kept the fish down. Water temp was around 48. We fished a few spots between Stilesville and Deposit. Krayfish warned us about the slime, and he wasn't exaggerating. It seemed to even gunk up high floating dries. Neither of us managed a fish all day. For the evening we moved to the lower gamelands. We saw more rising fish, but it took a long time to dial it in. We got a real lesson on how selective and leader shy these fish can be. I put on a sz 18 rusty spinner after noticing a good number on the water and started casting at a fish on the far bank. After maybe 15 casts, the fish kept feeding but ignoring my fly. Right at dark I switched to a sz 20, and two casts later the fish was on. It turned out to be my largest brown trout of all time. Even though it was the only fish of the day, I felt pretty successful.
Wednesday we started at the access around our campsite on the East Branch. I came up with a big zero, but MrMustard nymphed up a beast with a big golden stone in about 6 inches of water. Krayfish warned us that big fish hold all over the place in this water, and he wasn't kidding. It seemed almost impossible that this fish could even be completely submerged where it was holding. That evening we moved to the mudflats section. I have never in my life been forced to make such long casts and perfect drifts. Near the access, I managed two tiny browns on BWO emergers. MrMustard hooked into two good fish while nymphing the riff just below the mudflats. Once we got to the flats, we quickly realized that we would have to start our stalk from about 100 yards away and make perfect casts if we wanted fish there. Luckily there were hundreds of fish rising so we had a lot of shots to get it right. I picked up a decent fish on a sz 20 BWO dun in the weed beds on the near bank and two more on a sz 20 sulphur in the deeper pool at the head of the riff downstream. MrMustard moved downstream of the access point to fish a riff where he picked up the biggest of the day on a sulphur dun.
All in all it was a pretty successful trip, and we owe much of our success to Krayfish for his expert guidance.
Monday we set up camp at the Oxbow Campground and fished upstream on the East Branch. Water temp was around 67. We saw a few sporadic rises, but nothing consistent. I missed one fish on a spinner and MrMustard landed two on sz 14 cahills.
Tuesday was tough fishing on the West Branch during the day. The hot weather and bright sun kept the fish down. Water temp was around 48. We fished a few spots between Stilesville and Deposit. Krayfish warned us about the slime, and he wasn't exaggerating. It seemed to even gunk up high floating dries. Neither of us managed a fish all day. For the evening we moved to the lower gamelands. We saw more rising fish, but it took a long time to dial it in. We got a real lesson on how selective and leader shy these fish can be. I put on a sz 18 rusty spinner after noticing a good number on the water and started casting at a fish on the far bank. After maybe 15 casts, the fish kept feeding but ignoring my fly. Right at dark I switched to a sz 20, and two casts later the fish was on. It turned out to be my largest brown trout of all time. Even though it was the only fish of the day, I felt pretty successful.
Wednesday we started at the access around our campsite on the East Branch. I came up with a big zero, but MrMustard nymphed up a beast with a big golden stone in about 6 inches of water. Krayfish warned us that big fish hold all over the place in this water, and he wasn't kidding. It seemed almost impossible that this fish could even be completely submerged where it was holding. That evening we moved to the mudflats section. I have never in my life been forced to make such long casts and perfect drifts. Near the access, I managed two tiny browns on BWO emergers. MrMustard hooked into two good fish while nymphing the riff just below the mudflats. Once we got to the flats, we quickly realized that we would have to start our stalk from about 100 yards away and make perfect casts if we wanted fish there. Luckily there were hundreds of fish rising so we had a lot of shots to get it right. I picked up a decent fish on a sz 20 BWO dun in the weed beds on the near bank and two more on a sz 20 sulphur in the deeper pool at the head of the riff downstream. MrMustard moved downstream of the access point to fish a riff where he picked up the biggest of the day on a sulphur dun.
All in all it was a pretty successful trip, and we owe much of our success to Krayfish for his expert guidance.
