Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

No stopping the water... 3 units 24/7. Lots of water, yes, but much less than a year ago. Beaver and Table Rock are holding just above power pool but with rains every 3 or 4 days apart, it's hard to say there will be any relenting of this flow.

Catching has been fair. Not impossible but not the best. It's not really the water's fault, I think. We usually see a slow down in trout fishing in the spring for whatever reason. Weather has something to do with it. Wind, for one thing, makes catching pretty tough. Not being able to control your boat and not being able to feel the bite are two important factors in NOT being able to catch fish and we have lots of wind here in the spring. Multiply fronts is another factor not many people consider. For instance, yesterday we had several mini fronts move through the area. If you watched the radar all afternoon you'd see lines of pressure variants pushing rain through our area. The fish would bite for alittle while and then shut off completely.

Fishing isn't necessarily catching... fishing is fishing.

But I've been encouraged the last few days but reports on the forum that our trout aren't as cantankerous as I believed. Bman's report and pics showed there are some hungry rainbows willing to be fooled by scuds, san juans and egg flies below the dam, either drifted on a spin cast and drift rig on the bottom or using a fly rod with an indicator fishing the flies 9 to 12 feet deep with a couple very small split shots.

We've also found some nice rainbows downlake, from Scotty's Marina down to the Landing and Bass Pro. Minnows seems to be the best for catching them, along with gulp power bait, using an orange and a chartreuse egg on a #8 hook.

[Bill Saenger]

Phil,

I agree completely with your comment about the wind and boat control. Last week almost all of my fishing was done trolling because that gave me the best chance of keeping my boat in the best locations. Even then between the force of the water often driving the boat to the bank and the wind erratically doing the same, it was hard to keep the boat and lure in the best location. I got many very close up views of the overhanging brush and trees. I tried a few other techniques other than trolling but for the most part inability to keep the boat in the desired area and at the same time fish was just too much.

Bill Saenger

[back2roots]

No doubt about it.......

I gotta get a boat!!!!

[ulua]

Spent quite a few hours out at the outlets today. Very, very slow. Only had three to hand. Two were very nice rainbows about 15-16 in. Good fight in them. All were taken on #24 gray scuds with 7x fluorocarbon.