A Little Rain This Week Would Help The River

[Justin Spencer]

Was good talking to you, glad you had a good trip. This river gets a little easier each time you hit it. Moss should be gone soon, we just need a good flush to get it out of here. Look forward to seeing you next time.

[Arofishing]

So the moss goes away?!? Awesome! We are trying to get our last trip of the year together now. I know my friend's semester is about to get hectic so we'll have to plan around that. Is there a time in particular you'd recommend? I remember reading in Chuck Tryon's book or somewhere else that browns spawn/are active in November? As long as it isn't too cold to camp that could work. How late into the year do most sane people camp?

I used a dropper for the first time this trip also and that worked out pretty well. 3/4 of my hookups were on the dropper.

[Justin Spencer]

Winter is a great time. Moss usually gone from Nov. to June or July if we have good water. Get campers year round, but sleeper cabins are available with heater for $20 per man per night if things get too cold.

Dropper=good.

[bronzeback miner]

Things we're still struggling with: 1) Knots/tangles/handling of tippet. I'd say the ultra noob among us and my buddy spent nearly half their time fixing crap and the other half fishing. I had a furled leader this time and that made a world of difference. I spent way more time fishing than I have in the past and from what I could tell it didn't hinder my ability to catch fish (always had 2+ ft of tippet on it). 2) Moss. Now that we're down deep enough this is finally becoming a problem. 3) Finding/and/or enticing the fish. I'm sure our drifts aren't perfect, and practice will go a long way to help. 4) Losing fish once they're hooked. Actually a new problem, it was nice to get into more fish but would have liked to handle more of course. 5) A bigger cooler. The beer runs out faster when you go hours without catching fish

A few suggestions I might make...

1) Fresh line will help, I don't know how old you're tippet spools are but fresher tends to be more manageable

2) As Justin said, wait until the winter die off, it will be reduced so fouling should lessen

3) You are right, it will take mainly time on the water, you will figure it out, just be persistent and patient

4) Sharp, barbless hooks. Keep a hook hone with you on your person, scrape your hook point across enough rocks and it will get dull, sharpen frequently, go barbless if you aren't doing so already, they make smaller holes in the fish's mouth so slip outs should reduce, as long as you keep your line tight a barbless hook will hold just as good as a barbed one.

5) I am not a beer drinker so I can't help you on that one