Prospector
Well-known member
Time Fished: 1130am - 4pm
Weather Conditions: 73 degrees, cloudy, very windy
Water Conditions: clear, 130 cfs which is low for this time of year
Insects: March Brown, Caddis, midges, Green Drake, sulphurs,
Decided to hit the First Fork on my way home from Kettle. When I arrived and tried to pick a section, I saw several vehicles at all of the parking spots. Looks like people were spread evenly.
Eventually I picked a location with 3 cars but they all left within 20-30 minutes (around noon). I had this section of stream to myself for roughly 3 hours. As soon as I hit the water I started to fish the riffle blind casting. The strong upstream wind made getting good drifts with small flies very difficult. When I tried to gently lay down a fly, the wind would take it abruptly upstream ruining the drift.
Soon I had seen a few fish and tried to work them. I caught a couple and then the 2 gentleman left. This gave me a lot of acreage to cover. I had put on a bushy March Brown so I could get max float in the riffles as well as a big profile to entice the trout to show themselves. I eventually had worked my way down to the area the 2 gentleman vacated and there were fish rising everywhere. Most were midging. I tried a few flies and found a small BWO they liked. I was getting regular takes, landing some but losing some. It was a great fun time until a rainbow swam the full way around me wrapping the leader near my waist. At one point I was holding the leader when a rainbow took off and the fly broke off. No problem, I had others. Unfortunately, despite looking the same to me, the trout did not want them. They must have rode different in the water.
So in first 1.5 hrs I landed 18 and in the next 3 hrs I landed 1. I even tried switching to midges and they worked ok but I was out of practice and was setting the hook too strongly and pulling it out time and time again.
There are a lot of fish here. It’s worth a try . I got 16 rainbows and 3 browns. Some of the rainbows jumped spectacularly.
During my dry spell the largest snapping turtle I ever saw surfaced in the middle of the midging trout. He looked at me quite intently but he let the current take him downstream.
Weather Conditions: 73 degrees, cloudy, very windy
Water Conditions: clear, 130 cfs which is low for this time of year
Insects: March Brown, Caddis, midges, Green Drake, sulphurs,
Decided to hit the First Fork on my way home from Kettle. When I arrived and tried to pick a section, I saw several vehicles at all of the parking spots. Looks like people were spread evenly.
Eventually I picked a location with 3 cars but they all left within 20-30 minutes (around noon). I had this section of stream to myself for roughly 3 hours. As soon as I hit the water I started to fish the riffle blind casting. The strong upstream wind made getting good drifts with small flies very difficult. When I tried to gently lay down a fly, the wind would take it abruptly upstream ruining the drift.
Soon I had seen a few fish and tried to work them. I caught a couple and then the 2 gentleman left. This gave me a lot of acreage to cover. I had put on a bushy March Brown so I could get max float in the riffles as well as a big profile to entice the trout to show themselves. I eventually had worked my way down to the area the 2 gentleman vacated and there were fish rising everywhere. Most were midging. I tried a few flies and found a small BWO they liked. I was getting regular takes, landing some but losing some. It was a great fun time until a rainbow swam the full way around me wrapping the leader near my waist. At one point I was holding the leader when a rainbow took off and the fly broke off. No problem, I had others. Unfortunately, despite looking the same to me, the trout did not want them. They must have rode different in the water.
So in first 1.5 hrs I landed 18 and in the next 3 hrs I landed 1. I even tried switching to midges and they worked ok but I was out of practice and was setting the hook too strongly and pulling it out time and time again.
There are a lot of fish here. It’s worth a try . I got 16 rainbows and 3 browns. Some of the rainbows jumped spectacularly.
During my dry spell the largest snapping turtle I ever saw surfaced in the middle of the midging trout. He looked at me quite intently but he let the current take him downstream.
