Moss Cutting

[CaptainT16]

Just had a quick question. My Father and I were planning a trip to Bennett Springs next Wednesday and noticed they are planning on having the moss cutting boat out. I just wondered if anyone has fished there when they have been cutting and if it disrupts the river quite a bit or just makes fishing plain tough? I wanted to get some input to see if we should plan for another day or what to expect if we do fish during this time. Thanks for the help!

[jjtroutbum]

Well its very difficult to target specific rises, and dodge the huge amount of moss while trying to strip, swing, or skate a crackle back or soft hackle. And since these are my perfered methods at the park for my I tend to avoid the cutting.

There are those that might say it would add to the nymphs and such in the water column. And if ya tied on a mini jig under a indicator or weighted bobber you might do quiet well.

[fishinwrench]

Trying to fish downstream of the cutting boat is MISERABLE.....avoid it if you can and try to stay upstream of the cutting.

There are also quite a few eddys out of the main flow that you can fish during the cutting. Most all of the weeds will stay in the flow, it is like fishing stillwater...but at least it's fishing.

[trout fanatic]

I have fished there on 3 occasions when they were cutting and indeed, it is a miserable time. The weeds gather around your legs, sometimes you can find a clear spot or two to make a cast and drift though. My last trip our two largest fish headed straight for the weed clumps and broke us off. We still caught fish though, but not as many as usual. They have two boats that they can use to cut the weeds but the last time they only used one and they started cutting in zone 3. Had I been smart (something I have never been accused of) I would have headed directly to zone 1 (I was fishing in zone 2) and increased my fishing time. It has been my experience that they usually finish about 3:30 and it takes about another hour for most of the river to clear again. If they start in zone 1, head straight for there (it will be the first area to clear out). I face a two hour (1 way) drive to get there, so if it were me, I would schedule for another time-but then again, it still beats work!

[patfish]

Yeah Captain, it does totally suck on moss cutting days, but, if you ever happen to catch one of the days when they're cutting grass on the banks.... oh man, the fish go craaaaazy!

Pat