Report 3/21

[Paola Cat]

Left RRSP (see that report in the RRSP area) and headed to BSSP this morning. Arrived shortly after the siren. The water conditions were horrendous. Even worse than RRSP. The water is way up, flowing fast and muddy. Fished for 2.5 hours. Left the fly rod in the bag and used the spinning rig with a heavy peachy king globall jig and split shot. Started in Zone 1 .... fished for about an hour ..... zippo. Only saw (1) fish caught. Moved to Zone 2 and took (3) in the area around the stone arch bridge. Moved on down to the hatchery outflow and it was elbow to elbow with nobody catching anything. Walked upstream to the "bend" and took (6) fish on the globall in about 45 minutes. Found the fish on the edge of the fastest current. Casting into in the current and slowly working the globall in the slower current area. It will be quite a while before conditions are back to "normal" at BSSP. PC

[brittsnbirds]

PC-

You did better than I did! I also pulled out the spinning unit and threw a black jig up by the gauge house. Caught a 15" brown and later another bow on same jig down by the handicap. Thank god I went down on Sunday. Was able to catch some descent sized fish below the bridge on a black zebra midge. On Monday evening I managed to get some dry fly action up by the gauge house. The first two days were pretty good until all heck broke loose.

The girls in the park store said it was as bad as the flood of '93.

Pat

[brittsnbirds]

PC-

You did better than I did! I also pulled out the spinning unit and threw a black jig up by the gauge house. Caught a 15" brown and later another bow on same jig down by the handicap. Thank god I went down on Sunday. Was able to catch some descent sized fish below the bridge on a black zebra midge. On Monday evening I managed to get some dry fly action up by the gauge house. The first two days were pretty good until all heck broke loose.

The girls in the park store said it was as bad as the flood of '93.

Pat

[Paola Cat]

Britt ... It was the worst I've seen it in a long time. I just kept moving until I found some takers. It's all about reading the water in conditions like yesterday (eliminating large chunks of the stream), giving them something they can see, and persistence. Black zebra midges below the bridge .... I'll have to try that .... I normally use red or rust. Do you fish them single or tandem? Good to hear you got some dry fly action in earlier in the week. What pattern did you use? I'm looking forward to some of that .... Did you camp? PC

[rcguy]

Thanks for the report PC. I'm ready to go again but I'll wait for the stream to clear some. I've seen the pics on Weavers page and it must have been like fishing in the Mississippi river. I woder how many weeks it will take to get back to somewhat normal???

[brittsnbirds]

PC-

I tried red, rust and primrose but the black with gold rib/gold bead tore them up. I also found them on the breaks behind rocks and where the channel dropped off from the shallow water. I haven't tried tandem however I tried a green soft hackle with a green hares ear trailer. Had several hit's on that set up but never hooked up. Another guy that was working across from me was using a red san juan worm taking a few.

The dry action was strange to say the least. I ended up turning them to a gray wolf (I think that's what you call it). Gray and brown furnace hackle tail, gray dubbing for body with gray and brown furnace hackled collar. The hatch was a PED looking unit, definately not what I was slinging. There was one nice one working up against the gage house. He rose a couple of times but never hooked up.

Some of the locals that I talked with seem to think it will be 2 weeks for the river to go back to normal level. And another 2 for the water to clear up. It was amazing to see the water above the spring that was crossing to road to be clear and the water coming from the spring like hot chocolate. It should be cleared up by the next time I get down. If everything dries up this week I can get out and do some yard work. Make some points with the boss!!

Pat

ps sorry for the double post, I must have hit the add twice!

[Tony g]

i went down there yesterday and caught most fish the same way except i used my fly rod. i caught a few but no where close to the usual. my best fly was tri colored glow balls. it pretty much sucked all day but i ended up catching round 20 decent fish. biggest was a 2 pounder i caught by the big bridge in zone 2 on a tri color gb under a float

[rcguy]

Pat,

thanks for the info. I have lots on Midges I've tied this winter BUT no black with gold rib...all silver rib..DOH! Back to the bench!

I tied some size 18 scuds yesterday in a dark brown with a gold rib just for the heck of it. I ran into someone down there last fall that swore by dark brown.

I thought tan and olive were the most popular but we'll see. .... now tonight I'll tie some more midges with gold beads, black thread body and gold rib. That will surely put the kiss of death on those and we'll never catch another fish on them

[brittsnbirds]

rc-

I forgot to tell you, may not matter but I was using a 16. Started with a 14 but had better luck with the smaller one. I ended up bouncing it on the bottom, had to adjust the indicator depending on where I was placing it!

Good luck!!

Pat