Fishing the weekend of the 22nd 23rd

[Jeremy Hunt]

Friday 22nd

Started fishing around 10am in the morning with my friend Bill. He used to be just a client, but know we are really good friends and go fishing quite a bit. From all the talking that I have been doing about fishing “BIG MO” he just had to give it a shot to see what it was all about. The water was off when we started so we immediately went behind the houses at Point Royale throwing dries along the bank. Anywhere we saw overhanging trees that created a shadow over the water had fish holding and those where the more aggressive ones that were willing to strike the fly right on the fall. The places holding the most trout were definitely the shallower areas along the bank. When we would come to the deeper pockets along the bank we did not have as much luck. We did this for about two hours until we got to fall creek and caught some really nice fish. All rainbows with a few that hit the 19-20 inch range. I can honestly say that this fly becoming one of my favorite flies I have ever fished. And anyone who fishes this fly says the same thing.

Bill and I decided to go upstream and fish the area around the boat ramp. The water was still off so we tied on some bead head midge patterns and fish areas we saw more fish holding. I always look for fish feeding on the banks they seem to be the easiest to trick into coming over and taking a look at what I have to offer. We had the best luck on size 18 with a black body with a copper bead. We did this until they turned the water on. I knew the pattern from some of the days before that they were going to run it a noon. When they started generating we headed up to the dam and drifted brown San Juan worms and had hit after hit. No size to them and the disappointed part of it all was they only ran the water for about an hour that day so just when we thought we were going to fish one unit for the rest of the day they did that. And for some reason if you have ever been out there fishing the water on the fall it is not really that good. I don’t ever do well when this happens, but once it gets back down to level the fishing seems to go right back the way it usually is. We decided to call it a day and go back out the next day around the same time.

Saturday 23rd 2006

Before I get started I just want to say that I was glad we went out this day. I knew it was a Saturday and the crowds where definitely going to be a factor. We did the same thing as we did the day before. He wanted to get back on the dry bite so that’s exactly what we did. The only difference on this day was the size of trout we caught and the water generation’s schedule. And they both worked out great for some really good day of fishing. It’s all about timing sometimes and that’s what fishing is all about. Sometimes it turns into catching instead of fishing.

So we combed the banks like we did the day before and it wasn’t exactly what we expected. It was a little slow when we started this morning. We caught some fish but nothing of any size really and not a lot of them very active in the morning for big dries. And from fishing this fly a lot lately I have decided it is definitely an evening bite. I do know that the cicadas are really thick in the trees right know and they seem to be more active with sound in the evenings. Maybe that has something to do with why we caught some really big fish on them and I will tell you about it as I write about this day of fishing we had. So they started generating around noon again but the only difference in this day verses yesterday was that they did not turn the water off and ran one unit all day. This made for some great fishing all day and because I have a boat now I am learning everyday how to adjust to any water conditions out there. Today was one of those days that I figured out how to fish new water and sure makes it rewarding when you do that. So if you have a boat and your wanting to fish some great water in one unit I can tell you where. If you go up to the cable and drift down the opposite side of the bank the water is holding alot of fish and the drift is great in one unit. I never had much luck fishing zebra midges right at the dam in low water so I really never used them up there, but I remember how good they work in Arkansas with a little generations so I wanted to try them up there because the water conditions seem to be about the same. Well I’m glad we did because for about four hours we caught fish every time we drifted down and I’m not exaggerating. It was bite after bite. Really no size and they were all rainbows in the 12 to 16 inch range.

We got a little bored doing that after awhile and it was getting a little late so we decided to give the dry fly another chance down on the banks behind the houses at Point Royale. The location I am talking about is a little pass lookout hole going downstream. The time was around 6pm when we started fishing down there. I want to touch on this real fast because I think it is important to say this, I think this made all the difference in the world. I found out that fishing down out lookout hole with no generation that the current pushes you to the bank and also is real dead on that side of the bank which makes it hard to just drift down making the fly look more natural. I notice that you will have a lot more hook ups if there is some current going downstream. It is real wide down in this stretch of water so the current speed is not that much, but enough to create a little current, which you need. You will not do as good if it is dead still down there and you will definitely not get the proper presentation I think you need when fishing this big dry fly. Talk about the fish we caught this day was by far the best day I ever had on this particular pattern. My buddy made a cast and had a 10 pound brown on this fly and when I say this trout hit it with a vengeance that is exactly what he did. He came out of the water and I never saw anything like that before on a dry fly. The only bad part about it was is that he did not end up landing it. He tied a bad knot and now he is going to live with that all his life and if anything he probably will be checking his knots from now on.

We did end up catching about ten more fish on this pattern after the big let down. He made up for it catching about a 22 inch rainbow and a couple of other really nice fat rainbows on this pattern. I can tell you that this fly is catching some really nice fish right now so if you would like to know where to get this pattern at you can pick it up at Lilleys Landing fly shop or e-mail and I can tie some up for you. If you want to know more in detail just give me a shout and I can tell you more.

[Sowbug]

Hey Jeremy....Ya sure know how to make a fella want to go fishing! LOL

It's the stories like this that make me wonder why I still reside in Mississippi...arrrrgh

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Sounds like two good days of fishing. Now if I can just figure out how to get some time off and do some fishing. I think I'm feeling a little ill right now. Maybe a sick day is in my future. Fishing would be just what the doctor ordered. I'll have to try that "Big Mo".

John