Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

Slow. Can't put it any other way. We've had alot of people fishing off our dock this week and they haven't done well at all. Our guides have done fairly well but they've had to fish night crawlers and power bait to catch their fish. Most are dropping to 2 pound line because the water is so clear and no wind.

Fly fishing below the dam has been slow also. Me and Linc have been up 3 times this week with little success. Talked to a couple of the regulars up there and they said it's been slow... even in outlet #2. I did see them catch fish yesterday but few in the mouth and nothing large, although Duffy said he knew of 2 browns over 5 pound caught in the last 7 days. Duffy has also caught a fair number of fish using the 'Big Ugly' fly. He showed me one- it's a Dead Chicken with a foam body basically. OK- a Dead Chicken is a fly developed out at the San Juan River used for imitating a midge cluster. It's basically a Griffith's Gnat tied on a #6 wooly hook. Instead of peacock herl body, the Big Ugly has bright colored foam- yellow or orange. It's fished dry- usually along the banks under trees.

We're seeing some brown appear below outlet #1 and #2, below Rebar and down in the Big Hole. I'm sure there's more down at the boat ramp and KOA holding in the deeper holes waiting to come up.

From Lookout to Fall Creek, we really need a breeze to make jig and float fishing better. Again- drop to 2 lb line for more strikes. Micro jigs in olive, sculpin and sculpin/orange head best 4-5 feet under an indicator. Fly fishing- Stimulators and Humpies under the trees against the banks- #14 tan, brown or olive scuds under an indicator fish them on the bottom- drag them for a strike. In the evenings, fish a zebra under an indicator from 12 to 36 inches, depending on surface activity. They've been running one unit late afternoon for just a short bit- as the water slows and stops, trout have been midging the best.