Fishing Report 7-24 Thru 7-25

[NoLuck]

Was down Saturday late morning till Sunday early evening. I was amazed at the huge crowd that was there. Early and late the place was packed even when I was leaving Sunday at around 7pm. Saturday afternoon and evening seemed to be the best for me. I caught good numbers of fish in zone 1 and 2. Most fish were small fish but I did see a better number of bigger stockers being released. I caught one fish that was near the 4lb mark that Saturday eve. Nice rainbow caught on a #18 midge on my 3wt Winston with 7x tippet. At first I thought that I hooked a decent fish that buried me up in the weeds. But when I walked out to try and free it up I saw that was a big bow that didn't budge after the initial hook up.

The fish then took off on a small run downstream and luckily I got him slowed down. Thank God for that smooth drag on my Abel reel. We took a couple of pics on my disposable camera that has pics of BrittsnBirds on it of his nice brown . So now I can get them developed. I landed a couple more fish I'm pretty sure were over 2 lbs also. Sunday was a so-so day of fishing with a decent number of fish caught but nothing like Saturday.

[hfdhoosier]

Good report and congrats on the nice fish. Did you fish any dries? Still working on getting off for the get together but it is not looking good.

[NoLuck]

Dennis,

I didn't really try any dries at all. I did see some fish breaking the surface though. But, I think they were hitting bugs stuck under the film. You would see their backs mostly and that to me usually means they are hitting something under the surface tension film. I did see a few people fishing for them with dries and occasionally hooking up. There was a bunch of people fishing crackelbacks and stripping them back with quite a bit of success. I was doing fine with fishing midges so I just stuck with that.

I didn't use any one color in particular though. I changed up quite a bit too. I tied up a few new combos of midge patterns and some worked and some didn't. Some of the ones I tied I'm pretty sure will be productive in the future though. On another note, if you tie midges you owe it to yourself to use a Tiemco 2499SPBL hook. So far this is by far the best hook I have ever used in a #18 midge and scud hook. Wider gap and a super super sharp point. JJtroutbum can attest to my dissatisfaction with the usual hooks I used in the past for midges. I always expected a certain amount of LDR's and non hook-ups. Now I am suprised if I have a LDR. These hooks a great.

[flyfishmaster]

NoLuck,

Thanks for the report. It seems the crowds were larger than the previous week when I was there. So did you keep the flies in size 18 or did you go smaller? I'm sure the water was real clear as well.

Later,

FFM

[stlfisher]

Sounds like a successful weekend. Congrats on the 4lb'er.

[NoLuck]

Kim,

I stuck with a size 18 very seldom do I fish anything smaller. I may use a #18 tied a little more sparse though. It seems to me when I use smaller hooks I don't get as many hook ups.

[rcguy]

Congratulations Rich! I'm ready to go. The crowds must be families taking vacation before school starts?

[FlyFishinFool]

Definitely more families - I was down at BSSP last week Tuesday through Thursday and while it was not crowded at all during the weekdays, there were a lots of parents and grandparents with kids. I must have heard basic casting instruction comments more than 40 times over the 3 days. It was fun to hear the excitement when one of the kids would occasionally catch a fish. One of the local residents said that July is the peak for families since that is the prime month when ALL the kids are off school - some kids did not get out of school until around mid-June, and some kids will re-start school as early as mid-August,.

NoLuck - I agree, I have been using the Tiemco 2499SPBL hook exclusively for all my midges for several years. As you noted, the wider gap on this hook really does make hookup much easier. This hook is 2X heavy, so it also tends to help get the midge down quickly. I use this hook for all size midges; #18, #16 and #14 - it is excellent in all sizes. I will switch to the 2499SPBL exclusively for scuds as well, after I finish using up my remaining supply of Tiemco 2457 scud hooks.

[brittsnbirds]

Good report and congrats on the nice fish. Did you fish any dries? Still working on getting off for the get together but it is not looking good.

Hoosier,

In re: to the drys. When I was down the week of the 12th I had a little luck on drys. However they were mainly sipping which indicates to me they were getting them as pre-emergers. At one point I was up at the spring, standing on the down side but casting into it with a size 20 griffiths gnat. I allowed it to swing over towards the road side where it emptys and goes down stream. As it made the bend I would tug it under and allow it to swing like a soft hackle. Missed several on the savage strikes and landed a few. Also used a size 16 Crackleback with silver holographic body and dun hurl.

Have fun!!

Pat

[oneshot]

I wonder if more went to the Park because of it being Gay weekend,just staying off the river?

oneshot