Trip Report

[Phil Lilley]

Put in at the dam about 9 am with Dennis Schule from Blue Ribbon Fly Shop. Steve Brigman and I was down for the day to meet with John Berry about a project Steve is working on. But we had to do some fishing while in the area, of course.

They were running what they said were 2 units of water, plenty of water to get Dennis's boat above the fish shoal to the dam. We drifted san juans and #18 zebras under an indicator about 5-6 feet deep and caught a dozen rainbows up to 17 inches.

Drifting down through Cane Island, we picked up another rainbow but the wind was starting to mess with our drift and presentation. The rest of the day was tough because of the wind but we managed ok with Dennis's skill at the helm.

The Caddis started coming off as we got to White Hole but the fish weren't keying in on the bugs, at least on the surface. After lunch, as we drifted on down, we noticed the bugs increased in numbers and at one point, a hundred or more filled the air around us. We started to see rises but couldn't get any lookers on the elk hair caddis we were presenting. They did, though, like our thing-a-ma-bob indicators. I told Steve and Dennis it was the same way on Taney - these fish must be related!

We continued to pick up a rainbow here and there on the double caddis fly rig Dennis fixed for us. I did throw a jig occasionally and caught quite a few rainbows and we had 3 browns. They liked a sculpin color 1/8th oz jig.

We pulled in at the top of the Narrows island and waded for a while. That when the caddis were in full hatch tilt and more trout were rising. We dead drifted Dennis's 2-fly rig and both of us caught a few more rainbows and I caught a tiny brown about 4 inches long.

Took out at Wildcat. Great day on the water for sure. Good company and a very good guide - Dennis Schule. Really enjoy the White... can't wait to go back.