11/4 Night Fly Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

Finally had a night that I could afford to stay up late and fish.  Last night I got to the parking lot at 9:30 p.m. to join 2 other cars there.  One guy was fishing outlet #2 and the other down at Big Hole.  I could see at least one light up at outlet #1.

It was dark... no moon.  Nothing was active on the surface.  They had run a little water earlier and the water wasn't dropped out all the way, but close.  Not much current.

I waded it above outlet #2 and stripped a Pine Squirrel, sculpin and a leach.  Nothing.  Moved down below outlet #2.  Fish started to rise a little.  No bites.

Moved down to below Rebar.  Whoever was down there had left so had it to myself.  Fish were a bit more active in the shallows and in the deeper water.

I started getting bit.  Very short pulls with no hookups.  Then they got more aggressive.  I discovered they like a long, slow pull with a quick, short jerk at the end.  I was throwing down lake at a 45 degree angle and it was swinging down from there.   They were hitting it at all points of the retrieve.

Ended up with 4 small rainbows to hand.  They came on a #8 purple Purple Squirrel with a small cone head.

The rainbows came in limp--very little fight, a sign of very little O2 in the water.  Night time is the worse for them with no new water entering from the dam - only from the outlets -  and no sun or wind to add O2 to the water. But all 4 swam off ok.  I was using 4x tippet so I didn't play them at all.  Didn't take them out of the water.

Walking back, I had my light out looking at the bottom and the rocks. Saw a few sculpin - good sign.  Then I saw some rocks with plantan covering them. I tried to take a pic - they didn't turn out real well but you can see how many there were.

I continued to inspect the gravel, turning over small rocks.  Lots and lots of small scuds and sow bugs along with more small worms.  Most of the bugs were #18 and smaller.  Another very good sign.

 

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