Tim's Trout Tips
April 21, 2021
Tim Homesley
Water levels at Roaring River are great right now. The CFS (cubic feet per second) is only 80. Anything under a 100 CFS is great fishing. The dry fly fishing is getting better every day. The main hatches right now are Blue Wing Olives, Caddis, and there is always midge activity.
The water is clear, and you can see all the way to the bottom of most of the pools if you have your polarized glasses on. I wear amber-colored glasses as they tend to let me see in the shaded area a bit better.
Dry flies we are using right now are best used on a 9' 7X leader. You can get by with a 9' 6X on the cloudy days, but 7X leaders will generally work a bit better.
Nymph fishing is good right now also. Copper johns, San Juan worms, sow bugs, pheasant tails, burlaps, black, brown, or olive zebra midges are also good. I am using 6X leaders for nymphing; 9' works best for me, but if that isn't easy for you to fish with, then use a 7 1/2' leader. Use a longer tippet if you can (the tippet is the last section of your leader).
Most of the nymphs I'm using are #14's and # 16's. We’ll use zebra midges down to a size 20, sometimes smaller.
I usually start with a # 8 or # 10 Wooly Bugger. My favorite colors are the olive green and black. I like mine with some crystal flash or flashabou in the tail and body.
Rooster tails will catch a lot of trout, but are best used in the morning when the freshly-stocked trout are still very aggressive and ready to eat nearly anything for the first 30 minutes or so. If you are fishing spinners all day, or longer into the day than just at the siren, slow down your retrieve and let the spinner sink deeper into the pool. That will work better than a fast shallow retrieve.
If you just want to relax and catch a bunch of trout all day long while sitting in the shade or in your lawn chair, then power-bait products are the way to fish. White eggs, orange eggs, yellow 1" cheese-crawlers, orange 3" power-bait worms, 3" white, or cheese power-bait worms
have been very effective on the overcast days. I like white eggs most of the time. They seem to work on overcast or sunny days.
Small 3" or smaller crankbaits work very well here at the park. F-5 Rapalas, in black/gold are my favorite, but there are many spoons and small crankbaits that work well. Anything that resembles a crawdad or a minnow will work.
Fishing with marabou jigs is very effective; black/ yellow, white, olive green, and wooly bugger jigs in olive are great.
Fishing with 2lb line works great for jig fishing; it allows you to cast small jigs better and allows the jigs to sink faster.
I recommend a fishing line that has a green tint. This seems to work best on Roaring River. I try to avoid lines that are blue, white, or red. Braid doesn't work well at all.
The water is clear right now, so whatever bait you decide to use, 2lb line will be best; 4lb is about the heaviest you can get away with. You'll probably catch a few less fish, but you won't break off as often.
Good luck and have a great week of fishing!
Tim Homesley
Water levels at Roaring River are great right now. The CFS (cubic feet per second) is only 80. Anything under a 100 CFS is great fishing. The dry fly fishing is getting better every day. The main hatches right now are Blue Wing Olives, Caddis, and there is always midge activity.
The water is clear, and you can see all the way to the bottom of most of the pools if you have your polarized glasses on. I wear amber-colored glasses as they tend to let me see in the shaded area a bit better.
Dry flies we are using right now are best used on a 9' 7X leader. You can get by with a 9' 6X on the cloudy days, but 7X leaders will generally work a bit better.
Nymph fishing is good right now also. Copper johns, San Juan worms, sow bugs, pheasant tails, burlaps, black, brown, or olive zebra midges are also good. I am using 6X leaders for nymphing; 9' works best for me, but if that isn't easy for you to fish with, then use a 7 1/2' leader. Use a longer tippet if you can (the tippet is the last section of your leader).
Most of the nymphs I'm using are #14's and # 16's. We’ll use zebra midges down to a size 20, sometimes smaller.
I usually start with a # 8 or # 10 Wooly Bugger. My favorite colors are the olive green and black. I like mine with some crystal flash or flashabou in the tail and body.
Rooster tails will catch a lot of trout, but are best used in the morning when the freshly-stocked trout are still very aggressive and ready to eat nearly anything for the first 30 minutes or so. If you are fishing spinners all day, or longer into the day than just at the siren, slow down your retrieve and let the spinner sink deeper into the pool. That will work better than a fast shallow retrieve.
If you just want to relax and catch a bunch of trout all day long while sitting in the shade or in your lawn chair, then power-bait products are the way to fish. White eggs, orange eggs, yellow 1" cheese-crawlers, orange 3" power-bait worms, 3" white, or cheese power-bait worms
have been very effective on the overcast days. I like white eggs most of the time. They seem to work on overcast or sunny days.
Small 3" or smaller crankbaits work very well here at the park. F-5 Rapalas, in black/gold are my favorite, but there are many spoons and small crankbaits that work well. Anything that resembles a crawdad or a minnow will work.
Fishing with marabou jigs is very effective; black/ yellow, white, olive green, and wooly bugger jigs in olive are great.
Fishing with 2lb line works great for jig fishing; it allows you to cast small jigs better and allows the jigs to sink faster.
I recommend a fishing line that has a green tint. This seems to work best on Roaring River. I try to avoid lines that are blue, white, or red. Braid doesn't work well at all.
The water is clear right now, so whatever bait you decide to use, 2lb line will be best; 4lb is about the heaviest you can get away with. You'll probably catch a few less fish, but you won't break off as often.
Good luck and have a great week of fishing!