Memorial Day Weekend Tr

[Troutnut69]

Last week I rounded the family up on Wednesday and we headed down to Beaver Lake for several days for some R&R and of course a little fishing as well. The plan was to get there early and miss the crowd , heading back home on Saturday just as everyone else was arriving. Couldn't have had a better plan..we had the campground to ourselves until Friday night and except for a few canoers the tailwater was relatively void of people.

While the fishing wasn't anything to write home about I managed to catch at least a few each outing. This tailwater has always been tough for me and this trip wasn't any different , I know the fish are there but they can sure be tough to catch at times. I caught a mixture of small bows and browns , probably nothing much over twelve or thirteen inches. The most productive method for me ended up being 7x fluoro with a palsa indicator and a midge trailing off between 12and 24 inches below. By the end of the trip I was just getting the hang of the whole midging scenario and catching a few more fish than when I started off. Oh well , it's not the first time I've had my A$$ handed to me by a bunch of pea-brained trout!

Full TR and pics on the blog.....Jeff

http://highplainsflyfisher.blogspot.com/

[txspecks04]

I usually have a rough time out there as well; like you said, I know the fish are in there but it can be really tough to get them to take. The other thing that drives me nuts out there is midging on such a slow drift; maybe I just don't know the right places to go, but there are only maybe half a dozen places I can think of out there where I can get a good steady drift through a run (wade fishing, low water) and these seem to be pretty far between one another. I need to get better at fishing streamers for trout out there.

What were you getting your fish on? I have typically had the best luck on copper johns and brassies out there.

[Troutnut69]

txspecks04 - It's definitely a different type of water than any of the other White River tailwaters. Like you said , there just isn't any flow to speak of in most sections at dead low water. My most successful setup was 7x fluoro..palsa indicator...#20 black zebra or copperhead midge. I also caught a couple fish on small size 8 olive wooly buggers but not as many as came on midges. Instead of trying to get a drift I was simply waiting until I saw fish midging and then placing my setup as close to the fish as I thought feasible without spooking them. With no current those fish seem to roam alot more , kind of like they would in a stillwater setting.

[Jason R.]

I was out there that same Saturday (good call on missing the crowds). We did well on little size 20 grey thread midges with a black head. I say well... I think I caught about five fish all day. I have never been down there when it was so crowded and it was less than ideal. Also got some takes on a size 16 tubing midge in olive. Nice report- almost made Beaver Tailwater look like a legitimate trout stream.