Steve@BBT
07-23-2004, 11:23 AM
Well, still not a whole lot new to report from the area. Since last report I've been out on a couple of guide trips, one pleasure float with my wife and friends, another trip to the big lake and a scouting trip with Herb in the far lower river.
On the 16th I took what was scheduled to be a full day trip with anglers Denny and Jerry. This trip had been booked for them by a friend, Bill, who owns a great place here in the flies only of the PM. Both anglers were at a novice level as I was told, but Bill's main concern was simply that they have a good time.
We started off by stopping at a wide riffle for some casting practice and the almost certainty of a few smaller Browns and pre migratory Steelies along with the possibility of some larger ones. Here, I learned that they had the fishermen's bet going. You know the one... A dollar for the first fish, a dollar for the most fish and a dollar for the biggest fish.
Only thing is, there was one catch in this bet. It was a bet for each others favorite charity and the amount was changed from one dollar to $250.00 with the possibility of another $250.00 for the trifecta! I tried to convince them that I might be a good charity, but after discovering that theirs involved smuggling Bibles to countries where they're not allowed and the like, decided they should stick with their first picks after all.
It took a little work getting the hang of proper mending and a few other things, but not to far into it Jerry got our first fish, a decent little Rainbow that automatically gave him the trifecta for the time being. A long story short is that both anglers wound up catching several, Jerry got first, Denny got most and biggest was a tied with Denny's last fish, a nice little Brown. They decided that with the draw they wound both send the money to each others charity, a nice call I'd say.
I had hoped to get into some larger fish in the evening thinking that their casting would be that much better and we could cover some different water from the boat, but during a very early dinner I mentioned that I thought it might really pick up after seven or so and was rewarded with a chuckle from the guys who stated that by seven, they planned on being back at the cabin having a cocktail! After confirming that they were serious and that they had already had a great time, it was a fast row downriver. (I "had" planned on being off the water by about 10:00 pm or so.)
We did stop for a few minutes in one other spot where we had some fun with a bigger Brown that was feeding on damselflies. Five different terrestrial patterns did nothing for him at first, but once I showed the guys the trick of tying a bead head dropper to a damsel pattern, hooking the grass above the fish with the bead head and then dancing the damsel in the air above his feeding area, we were rewarded with three different aerial attempts by the fish to take it! On his last leap he got a taste of the fly, but not the hook and wouldn't be fooled again. Still, it's a bunch of fun to see the presentation work and by seven, we were back at the cabin having a cocktail...
The next day I took a late afternoon trip with anglers Matt & Matt. The day had started off very nice in the morning, but the weather got freaky in the afternoon once we launched and we went back and forth for a while from sunshine to rain storms. Apparently the fish didn't like the ups and downs because both Matt's were putting a variety of good patterns in good locations with nice presentations, but were not being rewarded for their efforts.
I think we did manage a couple of dinks, but once the weather turned into a full blown thunderstorm during dinner it was decided to get the heck out of there and I'd take Matt again sometime for a few hours on a better day.
As a side note, we did have a different Brown than the day before keyed in on damsels during a break in the weather, but the location was tough to say the least and he was put down before we finally got the shot even close to right. There have been a large number of fish keyed in on damsels this year and it's fun to try and get them. The problem I have is that I only have one decent pattern for them that seems to work, so if any of you fly tiers out there have another, feel free to let me test it!
The next day I took my wife Karen, my trusty dog Taz and friends Don & Carrie Jo down to a mid section of river for a fun float. Don, who's "not yet" a fly fisher, did pitch a few Rapalas while on the way, but only turned a couple of fish. Mostly it was just a great time with good friends, good food, good drink and great weather. I spent the next two days doing nothing of note, but got up around 3:00 am on the 21st in order to meet up with Herb and John Robinson for a trip in John's boat on the big pond.
Prior to day break proper we had our first fish on just outside the pier heads and the action stayed steady for a little while. By about 7:30 or 8:00 the traffic got heavy in the area and we went off experimenting and getting only a few more hits. We were back in at a reasonable hour with a few each for the smoker and the definite idea that we should check out the lower river.
The pier heads have been hot in the mornings and in the afternoon many of those have been in the harbor. We already knew that a few fish have been caught down as far as the Scottville area so decided to go in a little higher and see what else might have trickled up. At day break yesterday Herb and I launched at Custer and took a ride downriver. The water was quite high and muddy (Mostly from the Big South, the main stream up around the Baldwin area is still low and clear.) so it was tough to see any movement, but we did see a couple roll, had one hit on a spinner I missed and wound up getting a good look at all the changes in that area.
After scouting downriver we went back up past Custer all the way to Indian Bridge. (Actually, there is no bridge at the moment, just workers and I'm not sure how long it'll be before that's done.) This is where we discovered that most of the color was coming from the Big South and also discovered that when the water comes back down you won't be making that upstream voyage again without a whole lot of trouble. It should be interesting down there when it does turn on, (In other words, not worth the trouble just yet from what we could tell.) there's quite a bit of new structure and few new places to try out. I had to be to work in the afternoon so we didn't do as much scouting/experimenting as we would have liked to.
In short, (He, he, like this was short.) for the report... Weather dependant the terrestrials are still the way to go during the day. We are still having some decent action on occasion with BWOs and a few Cahills. Elk hair caddis and stimulators are a good bet also as well as large rubber legged patterns like Chernobyl ants, Tarantulas and the like. Streamers can be effective in the smaller sizes fished slower during the day, larger and faster at night. After dark try big dries like mice, frogs and even Hexes, the hatch may be mostly over, but big Browns will still take any large fly of opportunity once the lights go out and it can be very exciting when you get one to go.
I'm in the shop this afternoon and much of tomorrow then I'm going to be taking a little break from the box (computer) for a little over a week. It'll likely be sometime on the 2nd or 3rd of August before you here from me again so till then, tight lines all!
Steve
On the 16th I took what was scheduled to be a full day trip with anglers Denny and Jerry. This trip had been booked for them by a friend, Bill, who owns a great place here in the flies only of the PM. Both anglers were at a novice level as I was told, but Bill's main concern was simply that they have a good time.
We started off by stopping at a wide riffle for some casting practice and the almost certainty of a few smaller Browns and pre migratory Steelies along with the possibility of some larger ones. Here, I learned that they had the fishermen's bet going. You know the one... A dollar for the first fish, a dollar for the most fish and a dollar for the biggest fish.
Only thing is, there was one catch in this bet. It was a bet for each others favorite charity and the amount was changed from one dollar to $250.00 with the possibility of another $250.00 for the trifecta! I tried to convince them that I might be a good charity, but after discovering that theirs involved smuggling Bibles to countries where they're not allowed and the like, decided they should stick with their first picks after all.
It took a little work getting the hang of proper mending and a few other things, but not to far into it Jerry got our first fish, a decent little Rainbow that automatically gave him the trifecta for the time being. A long story short is that both anglers wound up catching several, Jerry got first, Denny got most and biggest was a tied with Denny's last fish, a nice little Brown. They decided that with the draw they wound both send the money to each others charity, a nice call I'd say.
I had hoped to get into some larger fish in the evening thinking that their casting would be that much better and we could cover some different water from the boat, but during a very early dinner I mentioned that I thought it might really pick up after seven or so and was rewarded with a chuckle from the guys who stated that by seven, they planned on being back at the cabin having a cocktail! After confirming that they were serious and that they had already had a great time, it was a fast row downriver. (I "had" planned on being off the water by about 10:00 pm or so.)
We did stop for a few minutes in one other spot where we had some fun with a bigger Brown that was feeding on damselflies. Five different terrestrial patterns did nothing for him at first, but once I showed the guys the trick of tying a bead head dropper to a damsel pattern, hooking the grass above the fish with the bead head and then dancing the damsel in the air above his feeding area, we were rewarded with three different aerial attempts by the fish to take it! On his last leap he got a taste of the fly, but not the hook and wouldn't be fooled again. Still, it's a bunch of fun to see the presentation work and by seven, we were back at the cabin having a cocktail...
The next day I took a late afternoon trip with anglers Matt & Matt. The day had started off very nice in the morning, but the weather got freaky in the afternoon once we launched and we went back and forth for a while from sunshine to rain storms. Apparently the fish didn't like the ups and downs because both Matt's were putting a variety of good patterns in good locations with nice presentations, but were not being rewarded for their efforts.
I think we did manage a couple of dinks, but once the weather turned into a full blown thunderstorm during dinner it was decided to get the heck out of there and I'd take Matt again sometime for a few hours on a better day.
As a side note, we did have a different Brown than the day before keyed in on damsels during a break in the weather, but the location was tough to say the least and he was put down before we finally got the shot even close to right. There have been a large number of fish keyed in on damsels this year and it's fun to try and get them. The problem I have is that I only have one decent pattern for them that seems to work, so if any of you fly tiers out there have another, feel free to let me test it!
The next day I took my wife Karen, my trusty dog Taz and friends Don & Carrie Jo down to a mid section of river for a fun float. Don, who's "not yet" a fly fisher, did pitch a few Rapalas while on the way, but only turned a couple of fish. Mostly it was just a great time with good friends, good food, good drink and great weather. I spent the next two days doing nothing of note, but got up around 3:00 am on the 21st in order to meet up with Herb and John Robinson for a trip in John's boat on the big pond.
Prior to day break proper we had our first fish on just outside the pier heads and the action stayed steady for a little while. By about 7:30 or 8:00 the traffic got heavy in the area and we went off experimenting and getting only a few more hits. We were back in at a reasonable hour with a few each for the smoker and the definite idea that we should check out the lower river.
The pier heads have been hot in the mornings and in the afternoon many of those have been in the harbor. We already knew that a few fish have been caught down as far as the Scottville area so decided to go in a little higher and see what else might have trickled up. At day break yesterday Herb and I launched at Custer and took a ride downriver. The water was quite high and muddy (Mostly from the Big South, the main stream up around the Baldwin area is still low and clear.) so it was tough to see any movement, but we did see a couple roll, had one hit on a spinner I missed and wound up getting a good look at all the changes in that area.
After scouting downriver we went back up past Custer all the way to Indian Bridge. (Actually, there is no bridge at the moment, just workers and I'm not sure how long it'll be before that's done.) This is where we discovered that most of the color was coming from the Big South and also discovered that when the water comes back down you won't be making that upstream voyage again without a whole lot of trouble. It should be interesting down there when it does turn on, (In other words, not worth the trouble just yet from what we could tell.) there's quite a bit of new structure and few new places to try out. I had to be to work in the afternoon so we didn't do as much scouting/experimenting as we would have liked to.
In short, (He, he, like this was short.) for the report... Weather dependant the terrestrials are still the way to go during the day. We are still having some decent action on occasion with BWOs and a few Cahills. Elk hair caddis and stimulators are a good bet also as well as large rubber legged patterns like Chernobyl ants, Tarantulas and the like. Streamers can be effective in the smaller sizes fished slower during the day, larger and faster at night. After dark try big dries like mice, frogs and even Hexes, the hatch may be mostly over, but big Browns will still take any large fly of opportunity once the lights go out and it can be very exciting when you get one to go.
I'm in the shop this afternoon and much of tomorrow then I'm going to be taking a little break from the box (computer) for a little over a week. It'll likely be sometime on the 2nd or 3rd of August before you here from me again so till then, tight lines all!
Steve