Fishing Report - Moss/algae

[2sheds]

Had a great time Monday on the North Fork. Floated and fished from Hammond to Riverside and caught a wide assortment.

With overcast skies for much of the later afternoon I was expecting even better success, but couldn't keep the moss/algae off my lures. Took the mid-summer advice of fishing deep, but wound up with a fouled lure more than 50% of the time. Happened both with spinning tackle (rooster tail spinners) and flyrod (Stonefly, Don's Crawdad, etc). Was mossy all the way from Rainbow Springs until Sunburst Ranch.

Two Questions:

1) Any advice from the experts on how to avoid fouling my lures ?

2) Is the higher moss level my imagination (seemed much worse than same time last summer), or is it the harbinger of warmer water, more aggricultural runoff, etc ? Hope this is just part of a normal cycle.

[Kyle Kosovich]

I have not found a way to keep the moss off...sometimes I fish with a lighter fly set with a heavy anchor fly and a lighter dropper up from that. It takes longer to reach the bottom and longer casts and precise line control is needed for a effective drift. There is no way to completely keep moss of though. It seems that during the summer the fish are either hitting or they are not and doesn't matter to much what you have on. The weekend before last I had a chance to fish and there was nothing until 6:30pm and the dinner bell seemed to sound and fish attacked. This was on a pheasant tail and prince nymph.

Yes I think the moss is worse this year that last. one reason is that we had really high water last year and it washed the moss out during a July flood as well last summer. This kept it at bay for the most part. this year it is about normal with previous years. Of course I always think it gets worse, but there is really no good way to tell unless you took pictures same time of year every year in the same location. or some other sampling method to measure algae biomass.

I don't believe it is a normal cycle but I'm not sure how long it has been this way.

I have notice the algae starting at Double spring just above Rainbow. earlier this spring when the moss first started the hole of water from DBL to RBW was completely covered with filamentous algae. Some where in the spring's recharge zone it is gaining excessive nutrients and once it hits the clear water of the NFK the sunlight and nutrients cause a algal explosion. not great news for the benthic invertebrates that feed our trout. In the fast riffles though it doesn't seem to grow as much, yet it still floats freely down stream and fouls your hooks. The weekends are by far the worst time to fish because of all the canoes disturbing the moss sending lots of chunks floating downstream.

I'll be down there this weekend and let you all know what I run into....

[Gavin]

I usually avoid the Rainbow to Blair stretch of the NFoW when its snotty or I fish down between Blair and James Bridge...the moss never seems to be as bad down below Blair and the fishing is often as good or better than above...I rarely float James to Dawt cuz its the ugliest stretch of river IMO..No trees on the bank on the Northfork Ranch Property, and a plethora of ugly trash palaces on the bluff side. I've had some decent bass fishing in the mill pond on occassion though. If we are lucky well get some high water to flush it out before fall. Cheers.

[Brian Wise]

Looking at the moss as a glass half full kind of guy, I say yeah, the moss is a pain....but it saves a TON of flies for me over the summer that I normally would have lost on a rock. The moss just kind of pulls off the rocks instead of breaking off a bunch of flies. You have to fish deep anyway and the quicker you get them down plus how long they are down there is what makes the biggest difference in fishing this river and fighting this river.

If we are lucky well get some high water to flush it out before fall. Cheers.

I was hoping the rain that has been in the area would have started some higher water....it 'just' barely missed the watershed though.

Brian

[Kyle Kosovich]

True Brian I lose way less flies due to the moss...I get use to it then go to the Elevenpoint and donate a box and a half of flies to the rocks there.

yet the fish seem to know what the moss means too, they go right for it when you stick'm, got to watch your droppers or you'll loose the fish...4x usually pulls free though.

Finally I'll get to fish for myself this weekend!

[2sheds]

Great Fishing day Tuesday with overcast skies in the all-day rain. Floated Kelly Ford to Riverside Campground and caught some nice-sized rainbows and browns along the way, probably 14-15" on both in addition to some recent stocked browns. Best activity was just above Blair Bridge and the short section immediately below Patrick Bridge.

Did well enough on a shorter float Wednesday from Blair to Riverside. Again, some nicer sized rainbows and browns with quality winning out over quantity. Saw campers at Riverside with some very nice (3# range) browns on a stringer. Beautiful trout, but I wish they had kept the smaller ones to eat instead.

Kyle's suggestion for lighter/smaller flies was helpful toward reducing (but not eliminating) the moss pickup. And as Brian noted, I lost very few flies over my 3 days of fishing.

All in all, another great time on the NorthFork. Surprised to have such good success in the middle of the summer. I really appreciate everyone's tips because they are helping me to figure out a little more about how to find success.

Till next year,

-Two Sheds from Texas

[Brian Wise]

Glad you had a good time 2sheds! We had good fishing yesterday too, nothing too lights out but the fish we are catching are fighting like CRAZY!

Any of the rainbows make you think you had a NICE fish on with the first run?

Brian