Fishing Report, extended

[Phil Lilley]

The colder days last week and weekend were tough on anglers and fishing it seems... lots of slow reports Saturday and Sunday with a few acceptions (there are always acceptions). One was a email report from Pete -

Hello Phil; Just wanted to say thank you for the advice you gave me Saturday about where and what to fish with when I stopped in your shop. I went up Sunday armed with the brown and orange head jigs you told me to buy and man I had a ball. I caught approxiamately 100 fish with a half dozen between 15 and 17 inches with my best being an 18 and 1/2 beauty. Thanks again and the next time I get down you can count on me coming by for more jigs and advice. Sincerely, Pete LaBoube

He was using 1/125th oz marabou jigs we sell in the shop. They've been a hot fly up below the dam.

Sitting here watching boats on the water, I just saw a pontoon full of people trolling past the resort, hooking 2 rainbows in front of the docks. It looks like they were using small spoons.

Lots of midge action since it has warmed up the last couple of days. Zebra midge #16 red or black under an indicator with either a spin or fly rod should be excellent all week fishing them from 12 to 48 inches deep. Use 2 lb line for the best action.

I'm heading out to fish with John Johnson this afternoon- probably boating up past Fall Creek to fly fish the flats. Will add to the report later today.

Bait fishing- very seldom changes. Power eggs in a combination of white and another color (pink, orange, yellow) using 4 lb line with a split shot best. Night crawlers injected with air and floated off the bottom 12 inches. Minnows fish on the bottom- better chance to catch a brown trout.

In from fishing- John and I drove to the dam and tried fishing jigs. Water was very shallow below #2 - too much so for us. We did catch a couple of small rainbows but headed down to deeper water at the boat ramp. There we found glass surface and little action. John caught a couple. We headed back to the resort and my boat.

Boated up above Fall Creek and just above the narrows. Was alittle chop on the water and fishing was good. John threw hwi fly rod and a zebra midge and I threw a 1/32nd oz sculpin jig with an orange head. They tore up the jig and hit the zebra pretty well. But when the chop was gone, so were the bites. We caught alot of rainbow, most were 10-12 inches but some were up to 14 inches (pic).

Rainbows midging all over at dusk.