TIM'S TROUT TIPS
May 5, 2021
Tim Homesley
Let’s talk about high water fishing.
Last Tuesday, the water was flowing at 89 CFS(cubic feet per second). Lots of rain Tuesday night and Wednesday morning caused a very large increase in water flow, just a tad over 10,000 CFS. Sunday it was at 208 CFS and will drop a bit each day. The spring and river water is very murky and will probably remain murky for a few weeks. It takes a while to clear.
There’s a huge amount of water. The river does flood once in a while, but that was a big one Wednesday.
Trout do not get washed to the lake. I'm sure a few trout do get washed to the lake, but the majority of trout don’t. They go to the bottom of the hole they’re in and wait out the flood; there are usually lots of trout left in the river after the water recedes. Actually, some of the biggest fish of the year are caught after the river comes up big. The trout feed heavily on the critters being pushed into the water by the runoff.
Thursday there was no fishing because of the cleanup; Friday the fishing was pretty good.
Most trout were being caught on power-bait products, but a few people were catching trout on rooster tails and marabou jigs. Both were working, but 1/8 rooster tails and 1/8 marabou jigs seemed to be working the best. Yellow, pink, white, and fluorescent yellow power-bait seemed to be working best for rooster tails; black, dark green and fluorescent orange were also good. With marabou jigs, black, dark brown, white, and olive were working well.
Friday, we were fishing power-bait with a 1/2 oz. egg-sinker, now we are back to using 1/8 and 1/4 oz. egg-sinkers. We will probably need this much weight until the water gets back to under 150 CFS.
Fly-fishing was okay Friday, but it was tough. Several people did well Friday with mega worms in light cream and in pink.
Saturday, most fish were caught on mega worms, again in the light yellow and pink; orange also did pretty well.
Several people were using copper-johns as the bottom fly and a black zebra as the top fly; they did pretty good when they could get into an eddy or a slower section of water. Brown, red, dark olive, and orange San Juan worms worked good Friday and Saturday.
The fish seem keen on worms when the river comes up like it did. I can only guess at all the worms that get washed out of the hills into the river.
The first hole in Zone 1 clears up first, so if you get to try a dry, that would be the first place to try.
It will probably be closer to next weekend before we start seeing much top-water activity.
On the fly rod, if you have a sinking line, now is the time to get it out; wooly-buggers and other streamers will work very well right now, especially in zone 2 in some of the deeper longer holes; sometimes when the water is like it is now, a holographic crackle-back will work very well; fished deep and slow, they can be very effective, especially on a cloudy day.
It’s very easy to get away with a four-pound line on your spinning rod or fly rod right now - maybe even heaiver for a few more days - but as soon as the water rate drops to about 150 - 125 CFS, don’t use anything heavier than a four pound.
After the water rate gets down to 100 CFS and below, a two-pound line will work best.
Good luck enjoy the river.
Tim Homesley
Let’s talk about high water fishing.
Last Tuesday, the water was flowing at 89 CFS(cubic feet per second). Lots of rain Tuesday night and Wednesday morning caused a very large increase in water flow, just a tad over 10,000 CFS. Sunday it was at 208 CFS and will drop a bit each day. The spring and river water is very murky and will probably remain murky for a few weeks. It takes a while to clear.
There’s a huge amount of water. The river does flood once in a while, but that was a big one Wednesday.
Trout do not get washed to the lake. I'm sure a few trout do get washed to the lake, but the majority of trout don’t. They go to the bottom of the hole they’re in and wait out the flood; there are usually lots of trout left in the river after the water recedes. Actually, some of the biggest fish of the year are caught after the river comes up big. The trout feed heavily on the critters being pushed into the water by the runoff.
Thursday there was no fishing because of the cleanup; Friday the fishing was pretty good.
Most trout were being caught on power-bait products, but a few people were catching trout on rooster tails and marabou jigs. Both were working, but 1/8 rooster tails and 1/8 marabou jigs seemed to be working the best. Yellow, pink, white, and fluorescent yellow power-bait seemed to be working best for rooster tails; black, dark green and fluorescent orange were also good. With marabou jigs, black, dark brown, white, and olive were working well.
Friday, we were fishing power-bait with a 1/2 oz. egg-sinker, now we are back to using 1/8 and 1/4 oz. egg-sinkers. We will probably need this much weight until the water gets back to under 150 CFS.
Fly-fishing was okay Friday, but it was tough. Several people did well Friday with mega worms in light cream and in pink.
Saturday, most fish were caught on mega worms, again in the light yellow and pink; orange also did pretty well.
Several people were using copper-johns as the bottom fly and a black zebra as the top fly; they did pretty good when they could get into an eddy or a slower section of water. Brown, red, dark olive, and orange San Juan worms worked good Friday and Saturday.
The fish seem keen on worms when the river comes up like it did. I can only guess at all the worms that get washed out of the hills into the river.
The first hole in Zone 1 clears up first, so if you get to try a dry, that would be the first place to try.
It will probably be closer to next weekend before we start seeing much top-water activity.
On the fly rod, if you have a sinking line, now is the time to get it out; wooly-buggers and other streamers will work very well right now, especially in zone 2 in some of the deeper longer holes; sometimes when the water is like it is now, a holographic crackle-back will work very well; fished deep and slow, they can be very effective, especially on a cloudy day.
It’s very easy to get away with a four-pound line on your spinning rod or fly rod right now - maybe even heaiver for a few more days - but as soon as the water rate drops to about 150 - 125 CFS, don’t use anything heavier than a four pound.
After the water rate gets down to 100 CFS and below, a two-pound line will work best.
Good luck enjoy the river.
