Fishing Report

[jah]

A buddy of mine and I fished today below Baptist Camp. We were surprised at how muddy the water was and how much debris was floating everywhere. Visibility was no more than a couple of inches at the most and the water was MOVING. We fished from about 10 until 3 and I managed about ten fish. I caught 3 nice browns (one about 17 inches) and the rest rainbows. He caught 5, all rainbows. It was funny because nothing was consistantly getting fish for us. Eggs produced the best, but my browns came on an olive wooly that was my lead fly. He caught his on eggs, princes and an olive wooly. The fish had zero interest in a scud or stonefly.

How do you guys fish that river when it is moving the way it was today? Obviously you have to get your flies down deep, but would you ever use midges in dark, fast moving water? I love midge fishing in winter, but have never tried it in muddy water. Instead, I went with big, meaty, bright flies today. Do you think my approach was right, or was I out of my mind for trying to catch fish on big stones this time of year?

Thanks for any tips....

Jim

[ozark trout fisher]

A buddy of mine and I fished today below Baptist Camp. We were surprised at how muddy the water was and how much debris was floating everywhere. Visibility was no more than a couple of inches at the most and the water was MOVING. We fished from about 10 until 3 and I managed about ten fish. I caught 3 nice browns (one about 17 inches) and the rest rainbows. He caught 5, all rainbows. It was funny because nothing was consistantly getting fish for us. Eggs produced the best, but my browns came on an olive wooly that was my lead fly. He caught his on eggs, princes and an olive wooly. The fish had zero interest in a scud or stonefly.

How do you guys fish that river when it is moving the way it was today? Obviously you have to get your flies down deep, but would you ever use midges in dark, fast moving water? I love midge fishing in winter, but have never tried it in muddy water. Instead, I went with big, meaty, bright flies today. Do you think my approach was right, or was I out of my mind for trying to catch fish on big stones this time of year?

Thanks for any tips....

Jim

I don't think small flies mix well with muddy water. I prefer streamers and eggs in those conditions, or maybe a big Stonefly nymph, bugger or something like that. You got to get their attention, and a #20 fly isn't going to do that when clarity is measured in inches. I'd say your approach was perfect. You just aren't going to nail them when the water is that off-color.

The Current was like that once when I fished it this June (it was high enough to be closed to floating, but wade fishing was allowed as far as I know). It was just puking mud with 4-5 inches of visibility at Baptist. But egg patterns and buggers still got it done well enough, provided they were fished really deep.

Frankly, I'm surprised the water was that muddy. It's not super high at all-just around 200 CFS. I was gonna head down tommorrow but hearing this I will probably postpone till Sunday-I'm sort of hoping an extra day will see the water a little lower and clearer.

[jah]

I've fished the river a lot of the last two years, and no doubt it was the worst visibility I have seen. It was so bad that we stopped wading about 200 yards down from the sharp bend (along the bluffs) because we couldn't see where we were stepping and it was getting deep and swift. And it was muddy...just wasn't really a pretty day water-wise. I may be back tomorrow, though. Hope I didn't spoil your Saturday! We still caught fish, but it was tougher than usual.

[jah]

I just checked the guage...it says it's over 600 cfs, not 200. Am I reading it wrong?

[ozark trout fisher]

I just checked the guage...it says it's over 600 cfs, not 200. Am I reading it wrong?

No, you're not reading it wrong. We are just looking at different gauges. I look at the one at Montauk (which is a little under 200 CFS) and you're looking at the one located at Akers Ferry.

By the way, you didn't spoil my Saturday- I was happy to hear a recent report. I'll just fish somewhere local tommorrow, and head down Sunday. Maybe it'll be better.

[stlfisher]

I think you had a good strategy as I would have started throwing bright eggs and buggers as well. I might have weighted them really heavy to help slow them down in the faster current. I would have started fishing closer to the banks during high water. I fished really high water at Bennett earlier this year and caught most of my fish very close to shore, while most people were standing and casting out further into the swifter water. I also think a San Juan in a bright color is a really good choice after rain. I might have tried a two fly rig with and egg and a San Juan. I probably wouldn't win any style points with that setup though.