Nice Rainbows On A Hot Day

[Nortrad]

Very good day, for it being so darn hot. Had my best 3 bows to date, the last one at the high rock wall upstream from Parker's. The cicada flies only fooled two and they need tweaking, design/material problems in my opinion. I'll improve them. This is a great way to fish, western style in the PM hours.

No action for cicadas in the AM in upper Tan Vat. Had one float up to me, so I picked him up and tossed him into the drift, no takers. Lotsa guys fishing. Only got 3 bows from the first long stretch below the rocks, had to switch up a lot of tandems. The main riffle through the rocks has deteriorated IMO, filling in with sand/gravel, narrower and shallower. Caught three in there on my way back. Also landed a beautifully colored 'bow when I was 'walking the dog' back for lunch. The deep section above it is about the same, with the last deep hole with the turn filling in with sand on the right bank, making a nice platform to stand/kneel for casting. Worked that hole over with rubber legs, Psycho Prince, and my new attractor nymph dropper that proved effective. Caught a big, thick park dweller who survived the hatchery pen and the park. He fought well and made my drag sing. Had to take him downstream. Caught two more out of there, both at 14" or so, no browns all day. Eight fish in before lunch, including three nice ones, works for me.

Started at Parker's after lunch just up from the creek entry with the regular two-nymph rig. A bow raised almost half out of the water and chomped my rose-colored indicator! Rigged up the cicada with my hot dropper at 3' below the stinger. A long drift with mends and one hit the cicada but I couldn't set downstream. Had another miss, stinger probably. Talked to a bunch of young guys at the campsite. We chatted fly design and cicadas for a bit, then I moved up the horse trail. Two guys in the nice deep hole, so I walked up to the rock wall. Finally caught one on the cicada but the stinger had him stuck. I carefully unhooked him. Had another swirl around the cicada, not sure to hit. This is a great hole, swirls, dark, over hanging trees, but with openings to throw your bug-indicator. Worked it hard and finally a hard hit, pulling the big cicada under. He was a bruiser 'bow, straining my rod/drag. A guy was below me and watched me. He came up after I landed him. He told me "It doesn't get any better than that." The bow was super fat, at about 17" or 18". Headed back after that for beer and a nice ride home. These bugs are going to be here for awhile. That's good or bad. Good for long-term, the bows and browns will be super chunky come this Sept./Oct. Bad: they're probably gorging on these things during some parts of the day. Good if you hit them keying on these bugs, which are everywhere down there, loud, flying around, laying on the ground. It was an amazing display of nature.

[ozark trout fisher]

Very good day, for it being so darn hot. Had my best 3 bows to date, the last one at the high rock wall upstream from Parker's. The cicada flies only fooled two and they need tweaking, design/material problems in my opinion. I'll improve them. This is a great way to fish, western style in the PM hours.

No action for cicadas in the AM in upper Tan Vat. Had one float up to me, so I picked him up and tossed him into the drift, no takers. Lotsa guys fishing. Only got 3 bows from the first long stretch below the rocks, had to switch up a lot of tandems. The main riffle through the rocks has deteriorated IMO, filling in with sand/gravel, narrower and shallower. Caught three in there on my way back. Also landed a beautifully colored 'bow when I was 'walking the dog' back for lunch. The deep section above it is about the same, with the last deep hole with the turn filling in with sand on the right bank, making a nice platform to stand/kneel for casting. Worked that hole over with rubber legs, Psycho Prince, and my new attractor nymph dropper that proved effective. Caught a big, thick park dweller who survived the hatchery pen and the park. He fought well and made my drag sing. Had to take him downstream. Caught two more out of there, both at 14" or so, no browns all day. Eight fish in before lunch, including three nice ones, works for me.

Started at Parker's after lunch just up from the creek entry with the regular two-nymph rig. A bow raised almost half out of the water and chomped my rose-colored indicator! Rigged up the cicada with my hot dropper at 3' below the stinger. A long drift with mends and one hit the cicada but I couldn't set downstream. Had another miss, stinger probably. Talked to a bunch of young guys at the campsite. We chatted fly design and cicadas for a bit, then I moved up the horse trail. Two guys in the nice deep hole, so I walked up to the rock wall. Finally caught one on the cicada but the stinger had him stuck. I carefully unhooked him. Had another swirl around the cicada, not sure to hit. This is a great hole, swirls, dark, over hanging trees, but with openings to throw your bug-indicator. Worked it hard and finally a hard hit, pulling the big cicada under. He was a bruiser 'bow, straining my rod/drag. A guy was below me and watched me. He came up after I landed him. He told me "It doesn't get any better than that." The bow was super fat, at about 17" or 18". Headed back after that for beer and a nice ride home. These bugs are going to be here for awhile. That's good or bad. Good for long-term, the bows and browns will be super chunky come this Sept./Oct. Bad: they're probably gorging on these things during some parts of the day. Good if you hit them keying on these bugs, which are everywhere down there, loud, flying around, laying on the ground. It was an amazing display of nature.

Awesome report and pictures. You caught some really nice fish. Where I live the Cicadas are so loud in the middle of the day that you almost can't here anything else. It's pretty incredible. That dry dropper fishing sounds like a lot of fun-just like fishing on a western stream as you mentioned.

[Nortrad]

Thanks. It's a nice change from the indicator. I think I'll hang a midge under my dropper next time, a variation of Barr's Hopper-Copper-Dropper. The key was to have the leader fairly thick, 2X to the cicada, 3X on my dropper. I could probably go 4X if the water was lower and clearer. It was a little colored up above Parker's.