Went to the Tully yesterday morning for the Trico spinners. Arrived at 5:15 a.m. at Rebers Bridge. Initially there were very few rising fish but by 6:00 a.m. there were good numbers of fish rising. Cuaght five rainbows 9" - 11" quite easily on #22 Trico parachute.
But once the spinners started to really come down the creek those trout got extremely tough, for me, to catch. Used 7X fluro all day. About 10:00 there was a huge caddis emergence and I went to a #20 tan cdc pattern. It was actually easy to get fish and many took on the first float. There were a couple of pods of fish working from just above the bridge to about 100 yards upstream.
I wet waded and the water was quite warm. I did not have a thermometer and couldn't take the temperature. I did see severe distress in all of the large brown trout. Actually I never thought the creek even had large browns. I saw four 16" - 18" browns literally gasping for air. Two of them continually came to the surface to gulp air. One virtually expired in front of me. It came to the surface and then rolled over. I followed it down stream and when it sank I lifted it out of the water to see if I could revive it.
It's gills were just a pinkish color, not the vivid red you normally see in a healthy fish. I tried, in vain, to revive it but it died within a few minutes. A fellow I saw at the bridge told me he had seen one earlier, the same size, come tumbling down in front of him.
The other two large browns were sitting on the bottom within six feet of me and there mouths were constantly opening and closing so I'm assuming that was to try to get oxygen through their gills.
The rainbows seemed unaffected by the warm water. I quit at 11:30 when the caddis stopped emerging. I did catch two browns, that had the appearance of being either wild, or holdovers, that were about 12" that took the fly eagerly and fought well.
The USGS site for the Reading gage does not provide temperature data but the Bernville gage, which I think is above Blue Marsh Lake, is reading 23.7 C. or about 74.7 F.
But once the spinners started to really come down the creek those trout got extremely tough, for me, to catch. Used 7X fluro all day. About 10:00 there was a huge caddis emergence and I went to a #20 tan cdc pattern. It was actually easy to get fish and many took on the first float. There were a couple of pods of fish working from just above the bridge to about 100 yards upstream.
I wet waded and the water was quite warm. I did not have a thermometer and couldn't take the temperature. I did see severe distress in all of the large brown trout. Actually I never thought the creek even had large browns. I saw four 16" - 18" browns literally gasping for air. Two of them continually came to the surface to gulp air. One virtually expired in front of me. It came to the surface and then rolled over. I followed it down stream and when it sank I lifted it out of the water to see if I could revive it.
It's gills were just a pinkish color, not the vivid red you normally see in a healthy fish. I tried, in vain, to revive it but it died within a few minutes. A fellow I saw at the bridge told me he had seen one earlier, the same size, come tumbling down in front of him.
The other two large browns were sitting on the bottom within six feet of me and there mouths were constantly opening and closing so I'm assuming that was to try to get oxygen through their gills.
The rainbows seemed unaffected by the warm water. I quit at 11:30 when the caddis stopped emerging. I did catch two browns, that had the appearance of being either wild, or holdovers, that were about 12" that took the fly eagerly and fought well.
The USGS site for the Reading gage does not provide temperature data but the Bernville gage, which I think is above Blue Marsh Lake, is reading 23.7 C. or about 74.7 F.
