fishinwrench

I'm kinda worried that they will cancel further stocking of the river, so as not to short the park. Hope I'm wrong. SOH has the fish to replenish, I'm sure, and the money should be there to cover it. Just hope they all aren't the scarred-up 11" dinks with their fins knocked off.

Brian, the level of water in the pools is the same as the level above the dam. From the looks of things it washed alot of fish over the rearing pools spillway, the hatchery outlet branch was full of dead rainbows and the ground from the outlet to just past the whistle bridge was pretty much covered with dead fish clear up to the parking area on Tuesday. I doubt it seriously, not live ones anyway. The last river stocking that I am aware of was on Aug.15 (500 fish), and I'm betting that they perished, since the river water was already pretty warm BEFORE this happened. I doubt that there will be another load of fish put in the river until later in the fall....but who knows. They gotta make up for the loss somehow, and they aren't going to short the park.

Dunno, they tend to be treating it like "no biggie", and maybe it isn't. But it was certainly more dead fish than I had ever seen before....and hopefully never will again. I Don't think there was anything anyone could have done to prevent it. Just one of those unfortunate things. I assume they will haul in more fish from SOH soon. I'm a bit concerned about the size of fish that will be in the stream during winter C&R....Hope it's not just a bunch of 11" dinks that look like they came from the same mold.....like it was in 03 or 04 (whichever).

I'm sure the sudden influx of warm water was hard on them, I could feel through my waders that the water was warmer than usual, still today. Which probably explains the lack of dead Browns...guess they can handle it.

Yeah, there's not much talk about it in the shops either. We fished it today for a bit....There's plenty of fish in Zone 2, but Zone 1 seems down on numbers noticably.

Morgan, We fished Bennett today for about 4 hours. Zone 1 noticably lacks the numbers it had previously, but I think most of the bigger Browns are all still there. Zone 2 from the hatchery outlet down to the whistle bridge is absolutely full of fish (mostly small) so I'm guessing that alot of them were washed out of the rearing pools, into that section. The "mess" (dead rainbows) has been cleaned up, and the hatchery crew appears to be hard at it, sorting fish and cleaning out the tanks. There's not much "talk" about the "loss" in the local shops....which I find unusual.

It really kicked Bennett Spring in the butt. Dead Rainbows literally covered the ground downstream of the hatchery yesterday.... it was starting to reek, and the buzzards were waiting anxiously for the parking lots to clear out. Bennett lost a lot of fish. That blast of warm water was lethal I guess. What if something like that happened on Crane? Trout in a small stream like that wouldn't have a chance, all the McClouds would be lost. I didn't see any dead Browns though, hopefully they lived through it.

Already tried it, nada.... but of course your milage may vary. I can fish a scud under the hatch and do just fine....but I've been on a dry fly kick for about 2 months. Just love to catch them on drys when I can.

Looks cherry Brian. Wife happy....or jealous ? LOL You are fixin' to get real busy I gotta feeling. I'll do my part to help ya pay for it, just as soon as work slows down.

Who on here is getting in on this lately ? We've been working it 2-3 times a week but still haven't found "THE FLY". Caught some specimens and they are light yellow olive, with a slightly darker thorax...'bout a size 24. We have matched it as close as possible ...to my eyes anyway, with just a thread body and poly yarn wing, greased and drifted in the film (anything with hackle seems to be a waste of time). The first few drifts (as soon as we get there) get taken immediately....then, as if by telepathic communication, the fish just quit taking it.....all of them. Even fish that are out of the immediate area of where we started, and haven't even been shown the fly yet. So has anyone got it licked ? This is a tough little hatch to figure out, the nymphs are really good swimmers and as soon as they reach the surface they pop out of their husk and take flight immediately...only riding the surface for about 2 seconds (if that). We noticed that when crawling out of their husks the duns kick their legs alot....and I'm wondering if that spastic leg kicking is what triggers the take. There's no way to imitate that though, tried slightly twitching the fly...but that didn't seem to help. Any suggestions ?

Trying to fish downstream of the cutting boat is MISERABLE.....avoid it if you can and try to stay upstream of the cutting. There are also quite a few eddys out of the main flow that you can fish during the cutting. Most all of the weeds will stay in the flow, it is like fishing stillwater...but at least it's fishing.

The current trend seems to be going away from furnace hackle....toward various natural, and dyed, grizzly. Do you think that is an "improvement? or is it one of those "doesn't matter" or "might matter today, but not tomorrow" things. My issue is: I don't wanna carry three boxes of cracklebacks. 3 patterns (variations) would be ok though.

What for eons was a wooly worm... is now a crackleback. The original dressing of pale yellow silk and brown hackle has morphed into anything with palmered hackle it seems. Well listen, who has the time to try every possible variation, body material, color, and hackle type....this could take 15-20 years. So, what's your most productive "crackleback"? Size, Body material/Color, Hackle ? And how do you get more bites topside, under the film, or down near the bottom ? Saw one with lime green flat-braid body, and pinkish-red dyed grizzly hackle the other day....guy swears by it and fishes it on 4x with shock gum...cuz he gets big bites Do we have a "cracklebugger" out there yet ? or can I be the first? LOL

Brian, You'll need 2.5 or better here Windyville gage I sent you email

I ain't plannin on skinning him, I can hold my breath long enough to get a few snips, that'll make a half dozen for testing. LOL Any other time there'd be three on the road between my place and town.......but today, Nuthin'! Was at a shop yesterday that had "Awesome Possum dubbin'"...shoulda grabbed some. I do have a dun colored hares mask in the drawer...but then I'd have to just call it a "gray hares ear"....and that takes all the fun out of it.

A few on here just might recognize "Bo".....he guides along with Brian wise....slightly less skilled, but cheaper, and better looking

Looks like a killer ! Thanks. Now, to find a possum.......

Those are some pretty fish. I guess I'm a sucker for fly patterns though....I wanna see that "possum nymph"

higher octane "gas" certainly won't hurt it, but I don't see where you learned that the "new age" fuel will not be alcohol based....it is my understanding that it will....and is. Your '83 115 might have some problems..it's gonna depend on the frequency of use it gets. Carb kits, fuelpump diaphrams, and hoses are not a big deal. But the rubber that the older crankshaft seals were made of, doesn't last long after some exposure of alcohol. And that's a high dollar (labor intensive) repair. You absolutly CAN NOT tune an outboard to run smoothly once the C-shaft seals start loosing pressure.

Dave, Well here is this link...ethanol in outboards...... For whatever it's worth. Older outboards will probably suffer some problems with the original rubber based components (gaskets, crankshaft seals, needle valves, hoses, fuel pump diaphrams, ect.) with extended use of ethanol. But the newer compounds have been in use for quite a while now, that resist deteriation, so I'm told. I remember when the first traces of ethanol began to find their way into boat fuel tanks around here....Johnson/Evinrude VRO pumps began dropping like flys. The manufacturer was quick to upgrade the components of the VRO, but lots of folks never trusted the Johnson/Evinrude VRO system again, and many had them disconnected and elected to mix their fuel manually, thinking that the VRO was "junk"....when it is actually a good system. It just wasn't ORIGINALLY designed to withstand alcohol....but it is now, and has been for quite some time. I guess the biggest "debate" going, concerning ethanol, is whether or not it actually takes more energy to produce...than it yields. I keep hearing this...

Glad y'all had a good time and didn't get the "Dallas county shakedown" brought upon you. Not all partyers are causing trouble....So see guys, some of them even are fishermen that happen to be doing something else that particular day. It's sad that there are cranky old fishin' cermudgeons that think that everyone on the river without waders and a rod in their hand, are up to no good and should be subject to immediate arrest. Be kind to the river, polite to others, and remember that it is YOUR river too.

CC, I love the way you took that out of context....and edited it to suit you, for a nice setup at a cute little shot at me. Actually I don't love it, I take offense to it. I don't think I was unclear about my original point, but that's ok. Yes CC, I agree LOL (see how that works?)

My point was totally and completely missed here. But by all means have your way with it.

Jesus !

OMG...you inflame me with that remark...seriously ! A guy in possession of a joint is not NECESSARILY a "pothead", anymore than you are a "pin-cushion head-banger". And just pick one person you know that has done something "in favor of society", and ask them when they first tasted alcohol. Dang ! I am totally out of my league here.