Fishing Is Tough

[Phil Lilley]

Been seeing some rainbows some in today, mainly on bait. Night crawlers is still the choice. But it's slow. Water is temp is really high.

I boated up last evening and found pods of rainbows along the shallow bank at the Narrows midging on small bugs from the grass. I fooled 4 of them but it was tough. All on #20 black zebras.

I looked for the same pattern today. Found a few rainbows midging below Lookout against the bluff bank this time in the eddies around the downed trees in the water. But ended up catching more blue gill than rainbows.

I'm disturbed by the lack of trout I'm seeing below Lookout. I know the water is dark and it's hard to see but I'm seeing more big shad than anything, esp in the shallow flats. There may be rainbows mixed it but most are shad.

Check this rainbow out. These are air bubbles just under the skin- they'd pop when I touched them. Any thoughts?

Here's one of the blue gills. They were taking zebras too.

[Micheal Kyle]

Blisters from the hot water, I took the water temp on Monday and the surface temp was 63.

[Phil Lilley]

Came right in- absolutely no fight. He was in the shade in very little current.

Man these fish are stressed!! I can't imagine what this is doing to the big browns. Can they even survive a fight?

[Micheal Kyle]

I wouldn't think so.

In some areas of the United States the fishery would be shut down for the hot water.

I would think that the mortality rates are going to be high. In fact the days that I have been down during the day I have seen a lot of dead fish.

[Rolan Duffield]

My brothers and i fished the Trophy area from my boat Oct 3 through the 10 th.

The water temp was 62 - 63 degrees throughout the time we were there. Not good. The temps were taken from Lilleys to the dam.

Rolan

[mhall02]

Blisters could be from this

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wat/wq/BCguidelin...tgptextonly.htm

http://www.nww.usace.army.mil/lsr/reports/...almontoc.htm#3d

Not a good sign for this fishery at all!!

[Fishhand]

Wade fished just below #1 down to the river left side of Big Hole today. I think 2 generators were online. Haven't been to Taney in a while, but man, the water seems to be a "weird" color and there's no clean gravel!!! Is it just me or does it seem the river bottom has been matted over? And, the fish seemed very sluggish. What is up?

[Phil Lilley]

Low DO and high water temp. High water temp I'd think is the reason for the extra algae on the bottom. It's nasty looking stuff.

I have found myself wishing for the "next season" all year this year. Now I'm looking forward to putting this whole year behind us on Taney.

Come on cold weather, lake turning and get us some decent water again.

[zsmith62]

I was down on wednesday from about to 12:00 and caught a few, but they all looked a little thin and sickly, and the bass i caught even looked bad, it was so pale I couldn't even see the stripe down it's side. i dont know if it was just that particular fish or if the low DO levels and the inconsistent water temps are hurting the other fish too... although that bluegill didnt look too bad.

either way, things are gonna have to get back to normal soon or the effects are gonna make things difficult for a long time.

[DoveTail]

Bluegill can do great in stale ponds and warm temps. The trout looks pretty bad, and the links of the Gas Bubble Trauma do not look promising. What a shame.