Roaring River Fishing Report

[timsfly]

Huge crowds this weekend, nice weather on friday and saturday brought people out of their homes.

It was nice to wear T-shirt on fri and sat. afternoon. We had good fishing all weekend, sunday

morning I did very well on eggs, the weather had turned nasty, I love it that way, but I'm built

for cold weather, I have extra insulation

Not very many people down on sunday maybe 50 people total, I fished below the F-hwy bridge

most of sunday, very nice hardly anybody down that way.

Most of the fish in the river are on the upper end, I would guess most of the 10lb + fish in the river

now are in the first 15 holes there are several over 10 in the falls hole, and there is one here and there

all the way to dry hollow, and there are several in the C&R area, but the 3 and 4 lb fish are everywhere,

and the browns the MDC stocked a few weeks ago are really starting to hit, I caught a bunch of nice 12-14"

browns on friday up by the lodge, most came on a pheasant tail or a scud, a few came on a #16 crackle back.

There was a lot of dry fly action on fri, and sat, it slowed up a bit on sunday, but still a few were rising in the

afternoon in zone 2 down by the handi-cap dock.

Roaring River is in great shape, the extra water right now is making the fishing better than it has been

in awhile. We have been doing very well on Caddis, Blue wing olives, Adams, and griffiths gnats, most dries

I'm fishing right now are #16's and smaller, but I have had a few guys tell me they are still catching them

on bigger stimulators, friday and saturday we were doing well on beetles and ants, I guess the 70 degree

temps and the winds helped out there.

I have went back to 6X tippet for nymphs, and 7X for dries and 5X for bigger flies, the water was crystal clear

on friday and it murked up on sat, and is still dirty, sometimes this happens, nobody really knows why, but

it can take a few weeks for it to clear, and it could clear up by next friday, we just never know.

Cracklebacks with a yellow or a light green body did well for me this weekend, both were tied with light

brown hackle.

I did very well on egg colored glo-balls this weekend, the rainbows are still in spawn mode, so eggs will

be very effective for another few weeks, eggs always work, but when the bows are spawning they are

even better.

Bunny bugs caught me a few fish this weekend, I think I only caught 3 this weekend on bunny bugs, all

three were over 5lbs but the fish are not hitting them as aggressively as they have been the past few weeks.

Pheasant tail, copper johns, zebra midges, brassies, san juan worms, thread jigs and micro eggs all were

good this week, with the extra water a extra #4 split shot really helps get your nymphs down.

I fished behind one guy on friday, and caught fish out of every hole he left, we were both working upstream

and as he left a hole I would move up, now he was catching a few, but I was doing much better he was getting

maybe 1 or 2 fish before he moved, and I was catching as many as 6 fish before I would move, we got to talking

up near the lodge, the only real difference in my rig and his was I had 2 #4 shot on my rig and he only had 1 #4

shot on his setup, I was just getting down better, he switched to 2 #4 shot and headed upstream, and he was doing better

he caught 6 trout out of the hold just above the bridge by the lodge, and later he told me he did that at most

every hole he fished, the extra weight made a difference.

I talk to a lot of fisherman fly fisherman and spinfisherman, and sometimes I'll talk to the guy who is so opposed

to weight, to the point that it costs him a lot of fish, some tell me they never thought about putting weight on there leader,

sometimes when the water is higher or has a strong flow weight will be needed to get th fly down to where the

fish are holding.

Spin fisherman do the same thing sometimes, they will set there worm or salmon egg up just like they did when the

water was low and never think about putting on more weight on when the water is 24" higher.

So even when you are using bead heads, a shot will usually be needed especially if you are using a indicator.

For R.R. right now, I'm fishing a 9' leader, the last 3 feet will be 6X tippet most of the time, I'll tie a pheasant tail on as

my first fly, and I'll tie about 15" of 6X tippet to the bend of the hook on the pheasant tail and then tie on a micro

egg or a zebra midge, and I'm using in most of the holes 2 #4 split shot, I'm pitching this rig right into the fast

water, trying to cast between the rocks, there are some real nice fish holding in some of these areas, and I see

people pass these areas by all the time and never try the fast water, those fish will eat, you just need more

weight to get to them, now you will snag the bottom a few times, if you have enough weight on your line.

I put the 2 #4 shot about 8" above my pheasant tail, I don't usually put weight down near the bottom fly.

Good luck on the river this week.

[duckydoty]

Great report Tim. You are absolutely right about the extra weight and getting it down. RR is the perfect place to work on your Czech nymphing techniques (deep, fast water) When Czech nymphing I use large heavily weighted nymphs (tungsten beads and lead wire wraps in them) along with shot on the line. You have to get down fast. I basically like to drag the flies downstream in the current while high sticking. Great way to catch fish at RR.

duckydoty

[timsfly]

I've been doing some of that Czech nymphing, and have had some good days high sticking the faster deeper water

I have managed a few big fish doing this.

When the big fish are being pissy, they will go deep, and that style of fishing really offers those trout a

tasty snack, that they would never see if it wasn't for the extra weight.

duckydoty do you do the Czech nymphing in Alaska alot ?

[duckydoty]

I've been doing some of that Czech nymphing, and have had some good days high sticking the faster deeper water

I have managed a few big fish doing this.

When the big fish are being pissy, they will go deep, and that style of fishing really offers those trout a

tasty snack, that they would never see if it wasn't for the extra weight.

duckydoty do you do the Czech nymphing in Alaska alot ?

Not so much in Alaska. More chuckn and duckn there. I did try it at Idavine with good success on greyling.

North Fork of the White is another great place for Czech nymphing along with Crane Creek. Czech nymphing is a great technique for using out west.

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Great report Tim! Thanks for the update. If all goes as planned (ha) I'm making a trip down on Sunday after work to fish for a couple of hours.

John

[Terry Beeson]

Sounds like a good time, Tim. Good report...

[Flysmallie]

Thanks for the great report Tim. Weight was probably the reason that I didn't do too well on Friday. I didn't use any except for some heavily weighted streamers.

I guess I have to get more comfortable using weight when I'm down there. I hardly ever do when I'm fishing for trout, I don't know why I'm like that. I use weight a lot when smallmouth fishing. But I get too hung up on sight fishing with streamers while I'm down there too. Some days it's really great and you can catch all the fish you want, but other times you need to understand that it's not going to produce and move on to something else. Sometimes I'm pretty stubborn I guess.

[timsfly]

It would be nice if trout would always hit up near or on the surface.

you know I do the same thing when smallmouth fishing, I always

try to get them to come up and I do better when I use heavy streamers, at

least on most days. But I have a heck of a time making my self use enough

weight when smallmouth or largemouth fishing.

[Flysmallie]

It would be nice if trout would always hit up near or on the surface.

you know I do the same thing when smallmouth fishing, I always

try to get them to come up and I do better when I use heavy streamers, at

least on most days. But I have a heck of a time making my self use enough

weight when smallmouth or largemouth fishing.

I know what you are saying Tim. I wish they would always rise to a popper but the reality is that you will catch better and more smallmouth fishing it deep or along the bottom. But it sure is fun to catch them on top. And I sure waste a lot of time waiting on them to come up there and most of the time they never show. But I still spend a lot of time fishing poppers and even more time trying to turn them into a work of art. They sure are purty but you could just glue some foam to a hook and add a few legs and do just as good.

oh well, I'll probably never quit!!!!