Mike Davis

The river isn't wadeable even on one unit. Boat fishing yes. We have docks getting broken up on two units. Remember the Little Red isn't as wide as the White so when the waters flowing it's flowing hard and on you fast. Mike

I got to fish about 4 hours today and had a ball. I'd won (another) TFO rod of choice at the conclave. I settled on a TFO Flyrod Chronicle 8'9" 3WT. Kind of between a Finesse and a Pro. The hot fly was a black and copper Zebra midge. I managed about 30 fish .. all rainbows .. in the 4 hours. I caught the biggest fish .. about a 13 or 14" male on a red and copper colored Zebra. He started dumping milt as soon as I had him in hand. About the last 45 minutes to an hour I switched to a wine and copper colored Zebra and finished the day with about a half dozen on that fly. I was with a buddy of mine and we noticed a big brown moving up river. I figured the fish was around 24 or 25 inches. My buddy said more like 27 or 28 inches. Still .. either way it's a big fish on the move. Rumblings are that the Little Red is about to go to an around the clock 2 unit generation schedule. If they keep up with that schedule we should be back at normal lake level around Thanksgiving. That's not taking into consideration any more rain and we have some already forecasted for next week. Mike

The predicted generation has been posted and it doesn't look good for wade fishing at all. Pretty much around the clock thru Monday with only a couple hours of no generation that are closer to midnight. Mike

It will be late this afternoon before the weekend predicted generation schedule is posted. As far as lodging you could try Lindsey's Resort or Lobo Landing. Mike

Wade or boat fishing? As far as cabins .. how many folks and how many nights? We usually get the weekend's generation schedule on Friday about 4:30. As much flooding as there is down river in the Augusta area, you're guess is as good as mine on what the Corps will do as far as the generation. Mike

and it was fun. I fished JFK park for about an hour and got probably 6 or 8 rainbows. Nothing big but a bunch of fun. The biggest was probably a 12" beauty that was full of color and so fat it looked like it was almost deformed. I caught everything on a size 16 red and copper colored Zebra midge. After feeling the tug I decided to go to Libby and fish the bamboo. Again, nothing major but a bunch of fun and this time on a wine and copper colored Zebra. When I got out of the water and back to my truck I noticed my gravel guards had some caddis eggs on them. We know these are caddis because one of the guys at the shop took a picture of someone elses boot one day full of these eggs and a picture was e-mailed to Gary Borger who confirmed them. I also ended up with about a dozen black caddis in my truck. About a size 18 I'm guessing. It looks like no wade fishing tomorrow because of generation. Oh well .. projects to do anyway. Mike

According to the graph I have the DO is marginal at best. Low 6. to high 5. with an occasional spurt of about 7.0. I was talking with the hatchery manager and she feels it's the result of last years high water. The DO near the dam was horrible then and she said they stocked more fish further down river than they did near the park. It does seem to be getting a little more consistent lately so maybe the summer crowds being gone is helping. I'll be gone for a couple weeks but I'll try to check in from the road and see if I can find out what's the latest on the river. Mike

I haven't been out much lately due to some family issues. The few times I've been out the fish haven't been very cooperative. It's been very inconsistent. I talked to a bait fisherman that camped at JFK and he caught one fish in three days and the two guys he was fishing with two of those days didn't catch any. I have a spot that I like to fish and in two hours I caught six fish .. all on a red and copper Zebra midge. Talking to folks that have been around Winkley .. they are saying pretty much the same thing. Very inconsistent. One or two good days and then two or three bad days. There does seem to be an improvement lately though. Maybe now that the summer crowds are gone, fishing and catching will get better. Mike

There's been 3 reported in the shop. About 2 weeks ago, a 34" brown was caught on a 7" streamer on a 7WT rod and 0X tippet. The approximate weight was 18 to 20 pounds. The person that caught it was more concerned about it's release than it's weight. The next morning his fishing buddy caught a 27" brown on another saltwater type streamer. These 2 live and breathe fishing. They fish all night and grab an hour or two of sleep and then back at it. Today a 28" brown was caught about a mile above Winkley Shoal on a size 14 sow bug. Rough estimate of 12-15 pounds on this fish. This brown was also reported as last being seen swimming happily away after the release. Kudos to these fishermen .. both for their catches and especially for the releases. Mike

Five hours on the Little Red produced about 35-40 fish. All rainbows with the biggest running about 14". I used the bamboo earlier this morning swinging soft hackles and drifting sow bug patterns and both methods were good producers. This afternoon I put the bamboo away and went with a Finesse 4WT and about 15' of leader/tippet tapered down to 6X. The red Zebra midge with copper wire and copper T-bead was the ticket. Probably 20 fish in a little over 1 1/2 hours this afternoon. I did get to do a catch and release on myself today. One of the bigger rainbows decided to roll at the last minute and the hook popped out of it's mouth as I was reaching for it. It drove the hook into my finger tip up to the bend. All I could think of was .. I sure hope my de-barbing pliers worked. It did. The fly popped right out none the worse for wear. My finger hurts a little but it could have been worse. I think I jinxed myself at one of the tying shows I did. There were three young girls there asking why I did that to the hook. I explained to them that it's easier to get the fly out of the fish .. and myself .. that way. Too bad they weren't there to see the plan in action. Mike

He seems to be doing fine. Slowing down .. just a little. But aren't we all? I did find out from him .. and then confirmed later .. Denny Conrad will be back at Sowbug this year. He's always good to have around and he's always good for Tony. Mike

I fished the park this morning for a little over an hour and probably caugt 7 or 8 decent rainbows on a red and copper Zebra midge. The fun part about that was I bought a Tony Spezio built bamboo rod and today was the first chance I got to fish it. Again, nothing major size-wise but some very fat and beautifully colored fish. I ended up heading to Libby a little later in the morning and got another 3 or 4 on the bamboo this time with an olive green UTC and copper wire and T-bead Zebra midge. A couple months ago the Little Red Fly Shop did a silent auction and a benefit for Arkansas' Children's Hospital. I bought 2 dozen Wapsi smokey olive sow/scud dubbed sow bugs and decided to try a size 16 out today. I put the bamboo down and used my TFO Finesse 4WT and 6X tippet and in 45 minutes caught another 10 or 12 rainbows. Every one of the fish had all their fins and were beautifully colored up. These fish were all below the 16" bottom end of the slot but you can't help but wonder if the management plan is starting to pay off on the Red. Hopefully back at it tomorrow. VA on Thursday again and then grandpa duties later in the day Thursday. Mike

How's your mom doing pal? Mike

and fished for a couple hours this morning. I started off at JFK and got run off by the "second shifters." These are the guys that sleep in, drink a pot or two of coffee with their breakfast and morning paper and head to the river to fish "wherever they want to." From there I moved to Libby Shoal and had a ball. Nothing major size-wise but a bunch of fat and sassy rainbows. The biggest was about 14" again but I broke a tippet on a rainbow that looked a little bigger as it swam by. A red Zebra midge dragged thru the moss beds was todays ticket. I may try again tomorrow .. but I won't be anywhere near JFK. Mike

the generation schedule has changed. The schedule is subject to be changed depending on power demand but for the next 2 days the predicted generation is 2 hours of 1 unit on both Saturday and Sunday .. 5 and 6PM .. and 6 hours of 2 units starting at 3 in the afternoon Monday. Hopefully the crowds will thin out. It was a zoo in the park tonight. I may try in the morning even though I usually avoid the weekend crowds. If I fish .. I'll post. Mike

I was with Jimmy T on Monday setting up Charlie's memorial Dan, and we talked about getting you out. Tuesday was the first I fished in quite awhile and I really missed it .. probably more than I thought. Things have been a little tough but I'll survive. There's definitely therapy in the water and that little tug on the other end of the line makes me smile. Mike

but I finally had a chance to do some catching yesterday. Greers is closer to pool so the generation schedule has changed some. I got to the park yesterday morning around 7:30 and everywhere I usually fish was shoulder to shoulder. I decided just to hang out and watch for awhile in case the folks were campers and would have to go eat breakfast. About 8 that's what happened and I had one stretch of river .. about 20 to 30 yards worth .. by myself. I ended up with about 20 fish .. all rainbows and all on the red and copper combo Zebra midge. The biggest fish was probably 14" and all were fat and wanted to play. The catch of the day would have to have been the rainbow that had a barrel swivel hanging out of it's mouth. I actually managed to hook the swivel .. with the offset LS SE5 hook. I was cradling the fish and was getting ready to clip the line when the hook pulled out with little pressure from me. The hook had been in the throat and I'm guessing that the area around the hook just softened up and the hook pulled out. Doesn't matter to me though .. the fish swam off. VA again tomorrow so maybe a little fishing .. and hopefully some catching .. on Friday. Lots of fun feeling that tug again. Mike

that generation is to increase. The powers that be decided to go to a minimum of 16 hours of 2 units. The goal is to have Greers at pool by 20 July. The word is that generation will commence sometime around 8AM and run to about midnight. Of course .. the shop had been given word about other schedules and have had totally different generation times and amounts run from what they were told so .. expect the un-expected and you should be okay. Apparently the cardboard boat races .. yes, I'm serious .. are scheduled for the 25th of July and they are a VERY big deal here. Last year's was changed because of high water and ESPN .. who were supposed to be here didn't make it. From what I understand they are scheduled to be here this year. Or so we've been told. Mike

I went down to the small pool below that stretch of fast water we talked about. My usual spot I fish was about ankle deep. I saw boulders there that I didn't know existed. I got to the pool and the fish seemed to be stacked up. I wanted to go tomorrow morning but there's a bunch of thunder-boomers and some lightning going on right now. We'll have to see .... Mike

It was good meeting and chatting with you Don. I drove thru the park after the shop shut down Sunday and passed you coming across the bridge as you were heading to the park and I was heading to town. I had a good Monday morning .. started about 9:30 and fished until noon. Give me a holler next time you head this way and maybe we can meet up and swap some Terry Beeson stories. Mike

I had my therapy this morning and got beat up pretty good so I thought I'd take a day off and rest. Plus I have a TU board of directors meeting tonight. They were supposed to turn on at 2 which usually means they start cranking the generators about an hour early to get them up to full power at the projected time. Today .. nothing at 1.. or 2 .. or 3 so I decided I was feeling a little better and would give it a shot. I got in the water about 3:40 and had a couple small fish when at 3:59 by my watch the horn goes off. So .. 2 fish in about 20 minutes of "bonus" fishing for me. They need to drop the water in Greers so I wish they'd just turn the generators on and let them go. Too much downstream to worry about for that to happen though. Generation not "scheduled" until about 2 again tomorrow so we may have to give it another try in the morning. That may not work either. More storms with quite a bit of accumulation predicted to hit again tonight. If I start seeing an old bearded man in sandals and a robe I may have to tell the neighbors to start keeping an eye on their pets .. especially if they have 2 of each. Mike

I managed to sneak in about 2 1/2 hours in JFK park today. The first fish of the day was a monster brown of about 3". The last fish was a slot brown of 17". I guess there was probably 20 rainbows in between. Nothing major size-wise in the rainbows .. biggest about 14" and he started dumping milt as soon as I got him to hand. I fished Zebras again and had the best luck on a size 14 red and copper. I'm trying some thread midges on a TMC200R with glass beads. I got a few bumps today but nothing major. They still could be fun once the water levels off. We're at about 7' above pool and rising so I would imagine we'll be looking at around the clock generation again before too long. There's light generation scheduled for tomorrow but I have therapy in the morning for the chest tendonitis and that could prevent my fishing. If I do get out .. I'll post. Mike

Almost 3" of rain since last night has turned the river into chocolate milk. We had a bit of a mudslide the day of the river clean-up about a month ago and all the mud and debris from the slide has made a bad situation worse. Hopefully it won't take too long to clean everything out. No generation scheduled until later tomorrow afternoon so we'll see what happens. Mike

I think today may have been the second day I fished since Sowbug Roundup. I really am wondering if you can go thru fishing withdrawals. I got to JFK Park about 1:15 this afternoon to see the water was still a little high but falling. I don't know why I decided on a black Zebra midge with copper wire and copper T-bead .. probably because that was I'd left tied on since the last trip. I got about an 8" rainbow on my second or third drift of the day and I actually had to stop myself from giggling. I caught a couple other stocker sized rainbows and decided to switch to a red Zebra with copper wire and bead. There was a person fishing a red San Juan above me in the run and was catching a few. I ended up with about 15 fish in a couple hours of intermittent rain. The biggest fish of the day was a 14" rainbow that also ended up being the last fish of the day. I've been going thru some therapy for tendonitis in my chest and got a little sore. It was still great to be out. I missed fishing probably a bunch more than I thought I would. That first tug on the line really gets the adrenalin going. Another favorite part of my fishing is the little tail slap the fish gives on release. There is no generation scheduled for tomorrow so hopefully I'll get back out. I have therapy in the morning again but if there's no stormy weather I may be fishing in the afternoon. If I do I'll post. I do have a few new patterns I'm working on. Mike

Lobo Landing is good. Lindsey's is another good one. Either place would take good care of you and both have their own strong points. If you decide to check out Lobo .. look out for his 100 pound dock rat. It's a yellow Lab named Odie that is probably the biggest knuckle-head of a dog you'll ever meet. There probably isn't much for hotel spaces right now if that's the type place you'd be looking for. Gas workers have about every room taken up. There is a good Bed and Breakfast .. The Abbe House .. with good access to everything. Mike