Fishing Report

[Sam Potter]

As you can see. The rivers are still high and the water is still murky. The CFS (cubic feet per second) is pushing pretty good and fishermen should be cautious about crossing areas that they have normally crossed in the past. If you have a wading staff I advise using it on your next trip if are planning to fish the streams this weekend. If you don't have one pick up a sturdy stick along the stream and use it to help you crossing the streams.

When sand and gravel move to new homes, due to high water they don't settled in for awhile and you will find yourself sinking in what looks like a solid bottom. This sinking plus the higher water and the increased flow could get you into trouble. After high water, especially as high as it was this past flood, will fill in holes that were there before and make new holes. Crossings that were there before may be gone and if you can't see the bottom how do you know you aren't stepping into a hole. That's where the stick comes in handy... test the bottom before you step. Be cautious in new water. We watched two young kayakers find out the hard way that the stream changes a lot after floods. They were having a good time until they rounded a sharp bend, in a fast chute, and a tree had fallen across the entire chute. They turned the kayaks over and had their yaks pinned against the tree for about 30 minutes. They were lucky they didn't get trapped under the tree. One of them had to climb up on the tree branches to keep from drowning, the first guy managed to get to the gravel bar.

Fishing was slow Wednesday for a couple of reasons. First of all, every fish that was caught was full of food... think about all the bugs and worms that wash down the stream after a flood like this. Every time a stone is turned over the bugs wash away until they can find another stone to crawl under. The entire stream bank was scoured on both sides washing away earthworms and terrestrial insects. Do you feel like eating when you are stuffed after a huge meal? (Check out Al's photos of the fish he caught in his report previous to this this report) . Second of all if you don't put the fly exactly where they are, they have a difficult time seeing it, like they do in clear water. Will it be the same way this weekend, probably but it should be clearing a little bit everyday... so fishing should be getting better as the fish digest their food and the water clears so they can find more easy meals. Have fun, enjoy the streams and be cautious.

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