Spring Adaptation

[Justin Spencer]

With the yo yo water of the spring I have grown tired of putting on 2 AAA sinkers and continually chucking and ducking the same old runs when the water comes up. I have a few high water areas that hold fish in easily fishable water when the river comes up. I headed to one of these areas the other day and found fishing tough catching a few shiners before finding a spot and catching three small rainbows on three consecutive casts, and losing a good bow that took my fly as I was starting to recast(never can keep those fish hooked). As I stood there I remembered a small seam on the other side of the river that I had seen when floating a few weeks ago, and decided if I could wade across the stream I would give it a go. As I approached it looked very non-descript, but had a slight drop followed by a little deeper water, and an overhanging tree to make casting a little more challenging. This spot is most likely overlooked by 99% of fishermen and is small enough that most would not waste their time on it. With a #6 coffee and black rubberlegs and an egg on I made a few casts. After missing a few takes I soon hooked and released another small rainbow fishing the middle part of this run, I repositioned around the tree and drifted the top part of the run over the break and was rewarded with a flashy take just past the drop, the fish took a big run downstream, and after nervously getting the fish on the reel I battled a fat 16" brown in shallow water bringing him to hand after a minute or two. I finished off my quick afternoon trip with a few fish around Fantasy Island and after the yarn fell off my egg, and my rubberlegs ended up in the dog I decided to call it a day. I hear people all the time complaining about wading in high water, and while it does eliminate the normal good wading water on the NFoW, it opens up lots of overlooked water that hold fish that normally go unmolested.

[Trout Commander]

Thanks for sharing some insight on high water wading Justin. Where abouts on the roller coaster track plotted on the chart was the river when you made that trip?

[Justin Spencer]

Just over 800 cfs, was fishing with weighted nymph and no other weight.

[Outside Bend]

It's always fun watching how habitats change and where fish go as that river moves up and down. Thanks for sharing.