3wt7X
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 704
Time Fished: 10:00 am to 06;00 pm
Weather: It started out chili with temps on my dash gauge around 34 degrees in the morning when I arrived. As the day progressed in warmed to the low 60s, with on and off wind. Some of the wind gust were pretty strong, but overall it was not too much of a hassle.
Water Conditions: The North Branch was running at about 340 CFS coming out of Barnum, which for those of you drift boat guys and gals, it just about right in terms of comfort in drifting on the North Branch. The water clarity was bad, the effluent from the paper mill really had things off colored in the stretch we fished. The stream temps started off cold, but rose to the mid 50s by the end of the day.
Hatches: Lots of midge swarms were observed size (20-28). A solid blue quill hatch was seen size (18-20). Brown and black stoneflies were around from size (14-18). I only spotted one rise, but the guide that floated ahead of us, advised the he located a pod of risers, with his client getting one on top.
Results: It was the first drift of the new year, and it turned out pretty nice. The first two hours were dead with not even a touch. We switched over to streamers and were almost immediately rewarded with two solid Smallmouth Bass. Fellow PAFF member mkerr hooked a very respectable smallie in the 18 inch range. A few holes down, we parked up and waded a good looking run, which produced a bunch of trout on nymphs, and we had a moderate pick at trout on nymphs for the rest of the float. I think the stream temps were the big factor today, as the trout woke up after about 1230. Mkerr did move a "Moby Brown Trout" about half way down the float on a 5 inch streamer. I did not get the benefit of seeing it, but he said it was in the 25 inch range... I told him in was a big fall fish...
Weather: It started out chili with temps on my dash gauge around 34 degrees in the morning when I arrived. As the day progressed in warmed to the low 60s, with on and off wind. Some of the wind gust were pretty strong, but overall it was not too much of a hassle.
Water Conditions: The North Branch was running at about 340 CFS coming out of Barnum, which for those of you drift boat guys and gals, it just about right in terms of comfort in drifting on the North Branch. The water clarity was bad, the effluent from the paper mill really had things off colored in the stretch we fished. The stream temps started off cold, but rose to the mid 50s by the end of the day.
Hatches: Lots of midge swarms were observed size (20-28). A solid blue quill hatch was seen size (18-20). Brown and black stoneflies were around from size (14-18). I only spotted one rise, but the guide that floated ahead of us, advised the he located a pod of risers, with his client getting one on top.
Results: It was the first drift of the new year, and it turned out pretty nice. The first two hours were dead with not even a touch. We switched over to streamers and were almost immediately rewarded with two solid Smallmouth Bass. Fellow PAFF member mkerr hooked a very respectable smallie in the 18 inch range. A few holes down, we parked up and waded a good looking run, which produced a bunch of trout on nymphs, and we had a moderate pick at trout on nymphs for the rest of the float. I think the stream temps were the big factor today, as the trout woke up after about 1230. Mkerr did move a "Moby Brown Trout" about half way down the float on a 5 inch streamer. I did not get the benefit of seeing it, but he said it was in the 25 inch range... I told him in was a big fall fish...
