mdrstl

A fly fishing buddy and I got Father’s Day passes for Sunday. I wanted to show him the Little Piney. The Newburg gauge at 5:30am showed 1850 cfs so we headed to Tan Vat. Since the fishing wasn’t stellar, we left around noon and decided to head home via Lane Springs. I wanted to show my friend the spot and we’d hope it may be fishable. Fishable it was. The water actually looked a bit better than when I was there the evening of the 8th even though the gauge at noon showrd ~450cfs. I thought <350cfs was when things got dicey, but based on what I saw Sunday, it wasn’t an issue. Do I have wrong base-line or is this an anomaly which may be associated with the flash nature of the rain combined with the distance between the Park and the gauge? thanks

I fished Tan Vat and Baptist sunday 9/26 and last thursday. Niether day were there many people on the river or at the put in. I'd say I saw less then 10 folks each day and only fished w/in 100 yds of only one person for a short period. I'd suggest starting by 7am, not only to avoid those who intrude on fishing, but the fishing was best before 10am. Light green BH wooly worked best for me. Fish the trico hatch when they are rising. San Juan worms worked a bit when things slowed down and a couple I spoke with last week caught a bunch on WD-40s under an indicator.

I hit the Current on Sunday and it was pretty slow. Caught three at Tan Vat, 2 on Olive BH Wooly and 1 on a Trico. Could have another two on the tricos, but........ Three at baptist with 2 on the olive wooley and a nice brown on a slump buster. We left ~230 so don't know if there was a late hatch.

has anyone seen the fish rising to Tricos or any other dries at Baptist or Tan Van and if so, which ones and what time of day? thanks

FYI: it doesn't have to be an expensive rod for a warranty. I broke the tip off my first rod (trunk, the first time, screen door/dog combo the second), a St. Croix 5wt 4 piece. I love the rod so took it back to Hargrove, who informed me it would be $15 buck for shipping and got the tip and a few items all fixed. It can still get expensive. I'd made my mine up I was going to spend money the first return and came out with a Sage 4wt travel rod.

I was casting out and down stream, shaking out more line at times, trying to keep the BH woolies and leaches (cone head) down. A few hit on the drift, most on the swing and a few on the strip. Stripping didn't seem as effective as it has been for me in the past. As the day got brighter, my line was longer, hoping to keep the fish from seeing me. I don't typically use an indicator, because I don't feel like I have much control on the retreave or the depth. It's also because I get more wind knots, lack confidence regarding picking the right depth and have problems keeping some indicators where I want them. I use BH and coneheads versus shot for the same reasons. All the fish I caught under the Caddis, which was nothing but an indicator, causes me to wonder if I didn't miss quite a few strikes.

Turned out I was the only one who could go and getting off a bit early was not a problem. That turned out to be a good thing as I caught 8 at Tan Vat between 7:15 – 9am. These were beautiful fish, mostly 14” plus and none less than 12”. All were caught on wooly buggers and leaches. Fishing shut down at least for me between 9 and 10 so I went over the Baptist. I caught 11 between 10am - 1, same good size, mostly on leaches and a few on bead head woolies. Not a fish between 1 -330. There were a number of bugs but nothing sustained and only occasional fish rising. I really wanted to hit 20 so I headed back to Tan Vat and fished for an hour. I managed to catch a handful in the 10” range on a copper john below a Caddis indicator. About 50/50 rainbows/browns and a number of jumpers. In addition to being a beautiful day and catching good fish, I only saw one person on the water, though Free Bird blaring on a local’s truck at Baptist did disrupt things for a while. Thanks to all of you who post and replied to my inquiry. I might not have tried the copper john or leech as quickly and they were the hot flies. For that matter, I probably wouldn’t have taken the day off if I hadn’t read the recent reports on good fishing at the Current.

thanks. since it means asking a wife to take over child duties not sleep and the morning doesn't sound ferocious, i guess i'll cut him some slack.

I'm going to run down to Baptist/Tan Vat tomorrow (Wed) and need to decide if I should push a buddy for an early depature. How active is the fishing before 930am? I typically fish Bead Head Woolies, crackle backs, caddis or tricos if they're rising. Thanks,

I was there on 1/16 and am pretty sure there were two signs then, which almost caused me to chastise someone with a stringer. Any suggestions re fishing? Flies to use? Is Lane Spring Campground open? Was the flow a problem? I plan on heading down to the Vida Slab area this weekend. January was pretty productive with light olive BH Wolly Buggers.