Newbie To 11 Point - Planning A Fly Fishing Float Dec. 27th

[kc300c]

Found your forum. What a great resource. Learned a lot already.

I am planning a 3 night float trip beginning December 27th and we want to do some fly fishing for trout. We are putting in up at Hwy 19 and floating to Riverton. I would really appreciate it if some of you would respond with what the river conditions are usually like during that time of year, where are the best spots to fish for trout, what my fishing setups should be including flies, depth of fish, etc. How do the trout bite this time of year? Are there any good detailed maps out there with specific trout spots or at least a detailed map that has spring, creeks, river inlets?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Phil Lilley]

Just so happens I'm working on a map right now. Should be ready in a couple of days.

Not sure if you looked at the Elevenpoint section on OA. It speaks of flies. Plus there are some great threads you should check out on the elevenpoint forum.

[jdmidwest]

Welcome. Brian Sloss of 11ptcanoe.com is the Main Man on here for the 11pt, he will have the current conditions and shuttles if you need them. The upper portion above Turners Mill will be a trophy area with restrictions and 1 fish, 18" limit although I strongly encourage catch and release. Below that, the river is stocked by MDC from March to October and there are no restrictions. Smallmouth and Goggle Eye are fair game too, especially in the lower portions before you get to Riverton. Last few years MDC has been doing a special stock during December so you may hit that also. It will be cold probably, but fishing should be good.

Flies should be streamers, stoneflies, crayfish imitations fished deep in the holes or riffles. Late season may bring out some spawners so bring some eggs also. I have had good luck with pheasant tail and bead head hares ear in size 12 or 14 also.

[Brian Sloss]

We are currently in the middle of spawning right now, but JD is right in that there could be more spawning in Dec as there are a couple different strains in the river and Dec is a time to see this activity. Please avoid fishing directly to redds, as hooking a female laying eggs could be deadly to her if she is too tired. This would also result in a lot of wasted eggs. We do get some natural reproduction, though we do rely on stocking pretty heavily as well. In addition to Jd's list, I'd suggest heavy stonefly nymphs, eggs and any big meaty nymph you can find and fish them deep. I'd break the trip into Greer to stinking pond, stinking pond to White's creek, White's creek to Riverton. That being said, you can pull over almost anywhere and camp 98% of that float is national forest land.