Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

The Corp is being very stingy with their water (and it is their water!) these days. Like this morning (Tuesday), they're running just a tad. More likely you'll see it running in the late evening but mostly- no generation. Some have asked about generation this weekend- don't count on it... very doubtful!

So it's fishing no current- flat water- which we've had for months now. That's not a bad thing. The trout are used to no water... they are confortable... and that's good for us fisherpeople.

This past weekend, bait fishing was almost excellent. I always hesitate to use that word- excellent- because someone in the newspaper business (Larry Hazelrigg from the Sringfield NewsLeader) told me one time that excellent meant EVERYONE was catching fish and that's had to say. But it was almost... Power bait in white and another color like pink, orange or yellow was good using 4 lb line and a split shot. Night crawlers shot with alittle sir to float them was good too, catching alittle bigger trout than PB. Minnows were slow but you have a better chance in catching a brown using a minnow. Fish them on the bottom or under a float 5-7 feet deep.

Jig fishing was great except when the wind got going Saturday. Straight line jigging was almost impossible but using a float wasn't bad. Dark colors worked best- brown, black (Best), sculpin and olive. Micro jigs worked best under a float in olive... fishing it 4-5 feet deep. Use 4 lb line - ok - but using 2 lb best. The area around Short Creek was hammered over the weekend so not sure you're going to find any quality trout there. The biggest rainbows were caught down at Monkey Island and even further downstream- post the bridges.

Trophy area - zebra midges in black with a metal head (gold, silver or copper) under a float 12 inches was king. Lots and lots of rainbows caught but not very many caught in the slot (12-20 inches). John Johnson fished a bit last week and used a stimulator as an indicator and caught several rainbows on the dry fly. He was fishing from his boat below Lookout. Micro jig under a float still was best using a spin cast- 2 lb line.

Below the dam, not a whole lot of people fishing during the week. Midge larva out performed scuds with all the midge hatches going on. Thread midges, miracles, WD40, RS2... small in #20's and #22's using 6x to 7x fl tippet. Cracklebacks and soft hackles when the wind picked up and there was a little chop on the water. Even a wooly worked good in really choppy conditions. Also dries did fair- renegades, elk hair caddis, griffith's gnat. Lots of rainbows but the small ones have invaded up there too so you have to fight thru the dinks to catch the big ones.

Night fishing continues to be the best time to catch bigger trout below the dam. Throwing floating rapalas - very good - working them slow across the surface. Woolies, buggers, streamers, matookas, mohair leach, sculpins.