MikeH

That brown's built like a tank. Great color on the rainbow too. I was heading to the Piney tomorrow but after those pics I think I might end up at the Current instead. -Mike

It's a great searching pattern. I'm amazed sometimes how fish will come out of nowhere to nail it. In appropriate sizes and colors it works great as a mayfly emerger as well. It is also, hands down, my favorite for dry dropper; really easy to see and can hold up a nymph with the best of them. -Mike

I could probably cut down to only these on most streams but I'm too much of a fly junkie to ever attempt it. #8 polish nymph #16 biot nymph #14 Soft hackle hare's ear #12 Klinkhammer #16 CDC & Elk -Mike

I can't be 100% sure but I don't think it was anyone official.

I got to head down and enjoy the beautiful weather Thursday on the Current. My guides were actually freezing up in the morning but it got nice and warm. It was fairly crowded but a little leg work got me away from the crowds for the most part. I more or less Czech nymphed all day and this seemed like the way to go. Specific fly pattern didn't seem to matter as long as you were fishing it right on the bottom. I was hardly knocking them dead but I did manage a fish from all the likely spots. Oddly enough most of them were browns. The most eventful point in the day was when a jet boat came flying up the river. I don't think I've ever seen one anywhere near Baptist. It really seemed to churn up the river. The water got cloudy and the fishing pretty much dropped off. There were also some caddis hatching which you don't see much in December. Unfortunately I couldn't get any fish to come up to a dry. That's the short of it. As usual there's a more detailed report at the blog. Here's a link17/29 Report -Mike

I ended up fishing Baptist yesterday. The water was low and clear making for some tough fishing. I went with wet flies for the most part. There were plenty of insects hatching including some pale yellow mayflies(see pic) but not many risers. I switched over to a dry for the occasional rising fish but wets accounted for almost all of my fish including a nice sized brown. I spotted the brown on my way downstream but spooked it. On the way back up I took my sweet time fishing to where it was. Luckily the fish hadn't moved and surprisingly I got it on the first drift with a Olive and Dun Spider. Full report at the blog. 9/27 Report -Mike

Great blog post. I'm heading down tomorrow unless I get called into work again. I tried to go twice last week and got called in both days. -Mike

Looks like I'm stuck working on Friday. Good luck fishing. -Mike

I'll probably work my way downstream. I drive a green Mustang. -Mike

I'm fishing Baptist on Friday and would gladly help. Keep an eye out for a guy with a red beard, that's me. -Mike

You never know, things can change in a heartbeat on the river. Even if the hopper fishing doesn't heat up there should be some decent hatches pretty soon. At least the drakes will be hatching on the Piney before long so we can get our big dry fix. -Mike

There's definitely plenty of hoppers on the banks, we just need more of them to go swimming. I caught only two in around five hours of dry/dropper last week on a stimulator and both of them were within six inches of the bank in very shallow water. It's pretty rare (at least for me) that the hopper fishing is really good, but when it is this is where I usually catch them. I figure the closer to the bank the more likely they are to see real terrestrials and in the shallow water they don't have to come up very far. -Mike

It's downright addictive. I almost have to force myself to fish somewhere else. Twice this year I've planned on fishing the Piney and ended up just staying on 63 and going to the Current. -Mike

After what seems like an eternity I made it back down to the Current this week. I arrived Tuesday morning at Baptist with the plan to throw streamers early in hopes of catching some hogs. I caught a nice brown on a waggy tail sculpin variation almost right off the bat. Unfortunately that was the last fish I'd catch for around 4 hours. I had plenty of fish show interest in my streamers, but no takes. After lunch I decided it was nymphing time and finally caught some more fish. Most of them took a dronestone I was using as an anchor but a couple took my dropper.(an olive quill nymph) When I eventually started my way back to the car I switched to dry/dropper. I used a tan stimulator with the quill nymph from earlier hung off the back. The nymph received most of the attention but I did have two come up and take the dry. I had seen plenty of hoppers on the banks, but none in the water. I went and set up camp at Montauk and then headed down to Tan Vat. Nothing much to report here. I stuck with the dry/dropper but all of the fish came on the dropper, a hare's ear at this point. After dinner I headed down out of the park to fish a little before it got dark. There was a hatch coming off just barely strong enough to get a few fish's attentions. They were mayflies, between a #16 or #18 and orange in color with creamy colored wings. They looked like sulphurs to me but I don't think those hatch this time of the year. The stimulator from earlier was the only dry I had on me so matching the hatch with a dry was out of the question. A #16 partridge and orange fished upstream just under the surface did the trick. All of the fish rising turned out to be little park escapees but it was still a lot of fun fishing up by the surface. Overnight it stormed big time. The river was up a little from the day before but still perfectly clear. The trico's were coming off and there were actually fish rising to them. I never seem to get many on dries during this hatch so I decided to go the wet fly route again. I'm sure I missed a few takes but it seemed to work well. After that I went to nymphing until I had to leave, as I had to be at work at 4:00. The stone was working again but I quickly lost my last one and had to switch. I went with a Vladi worm and continued to do well. After the slow day before it was great to be getting into lots of fish. I thought about calling into work but before I knew it I had to leave. I probably caught as many Wednesday morning as I did all day Tuesday. I got in all the fishing I could as I barely had time to unpack and shower before work. As usual there's a longer report with pictures at my blog. Link's in my signature. -Mike

Nice job with the browns! I'll be down the next couple of days so hopefully they'll still be hungry. -Mike

Trico's were coming off in the morning last weekend so they might rising then. The water's fairly low and clear so you may get a few to come up for hoppers or other attractors. A hopper or other high floating dry with a nymph hung off it could be a good choice. I noticed they weren't too picky in the morning but by afternoon they wanted my smaller flies. If the dry/dropper bite isn't happening nymph as deep as you can. Use something heavy to get it down with a small dropper. I think depth matters more than the actual fly but you can't go wrong with a pheasant tail. It's gonna be really hot so I think the best advice I can give is to fish the shade. The fish want to stay out of the heat just like everyone else so you should find plenty of them hiding out in the shady banks. -Mike

I finally got back down to the Current on Saturday. Gas prices have been forcing me to be a warmwater fisherman so it was great to finally go for trout. Arrived at my favorite access to find the tricos hatching. Unfortunately there weren't any risers. There was a nice layer of fog on the water so it may have either hid the bugs from the fish or hid the rising fish from me. I rigged up with a Polish nymph and a little biot nymph dropper and started Czech nymphing my way down the run by the parking lot. I had to rely entirely on feel because of the fog but I actually did better than usual. About the same time the fog was lifting the canoe hatch started. Luckily it seemed like everyone started at the same time. So instead of random appearances throughout the day there was a full blown armada in the morning. As the sun rose I noticed the fish were really keying in on my smaller dropper so I switched up to a frenchy leader. This set up works great for smaller nymphs. I would wade a leader down, then work the water up and across(especially the shady banks) then wade down another leader and so on. I stuck with this for the rest of the day. Eventually that ice cold cooler back at the car became too tempting so it was time to head back upstream. I fished a lot quicker going back up but still did pretty good. Amazingly I had the same fly on point the entire time I was using the long French leader. It was a tungsten hare's ear variation on a jig hook. I really like how the jig hooks don't snag bottom as much but about 5 hours ticking bottom without losing it was awesome. As far as numbers go it was probably my best day of the year. I didn't catch anything too big but did manage a few fat rainbows. There were a couple really exciting moments though. First I briefly had a double until the fish on the dropper broke off. I also had a short encounter with a nice fish. I was working an undercut bank when my sighter barely twitched. I set the hook into something big. Once I got it close enough to see I realized it wasn't big. It was HUGE. After it saw me it hauled off down stream while I did my best to stop or turn it. No such luck. I was almost into the backing when my line went dead. I'm going to have to bring some streamers and give that spot a serious once over because I want to hook that fish again. That's about it on a great day fishing. There's a link to my blog in my signature if you want to read a longer report and see some more pics. -Mike

I think it's going to be pretty high still. It's at 330cfs now. I won't fish unless it's under 200, although you may be more adventurous. -Mike

After lurking for a couple of weeks I figured I'd finally post. I celebrated my birthday a day early yesterday fishing down from Baptist. I was interested to see how much the river had changed after the flood. It was still up a little and getting around was tricky at times but overall the flood left it in good shape; it just changed everything up. A wading staff would have been a good thing to have. I'd heard everyone was catching nothing but rainbows so I was pleasantly surprised to catch quite a few brownies the best being about 17". I Czech nymphed my way downstream then put a coiled sighter into my leader and French nymphed my way back up. The fly of the day was a #16 rusty brown biot nymph with a fire orange thread collar and a copper tungsten bead. It managed to stay as my dropper all day surviving countless snags earning it retirement to my hat. My anchors didn't fair so well and my fly box shows it. I've got a lot of tying to do before my next trip. Depending on the water I used a cased caddis I tie on a jig hook, woven polish nymphs, and stonefly nymphs very similar to a dronestone as anchors. All the browns took my dropper and the rainbows were about 50/50 between it and the anchors. Just about every spot was at least a little different than it used to be but the biggest change was at the horseshoe bend. There was a ton of debris there and I really didn't see a good place to cross. I was planning on fishing down to Ashley Creek but this killed that idea. If you're interested there's a report with all kinds of pics of the river changes on my blog. My Blog a nice brown the start of the horseshoe bend -Mike