May 23, 2011
Flow: 295 rising to 380 CFS
Water Temp: 52 Degrees
Clarity: Clear with a slight stain
Weather: Clear in Morning/Overcast Afternoon
The caddis are here! Finally we are seeing some caddis at Deckers. The fish are not quite looking up yet. We need a steady stream of caddis to come off to get the fish focused on them, but this is encouraging. The river is also rising, but dont be alarmed. It is getting a good flush to get rid of the moss and get the bugs moving. The water temps are creeping up, they broke 50 degree this week. This will really get the fish going. Even thought the river is rising, the water is still relatively clear. There will be a slight tint to the water for the next few days, but this works in your favor, the fish were very relaxed and willing to eat.
Robb and I started fishing right at the town of Deckers and worked our way up river from there. There is a lot of moss in the river, free floating. This will most likely end in the next couple days, it began to taper off a little by the end of the day. I tried the usual flies, RS2’s, PT’s and Midges. These were working the last few weeks, but not today! They wanted big bugs. Size 6-8 Rubberlegs was the magic fly…finally we are using big bugs! All of our fish whacked the rubberlegs, except for a couple we took on a San Juan worm. Put away you light tippet for the next few weeks. 4x fluorocarbon was the way to go, any less and the fish will be popping you off.
Don’t be afraid to put on some weight. With the flow at 400CFS, you need to get your bug down quick. One of the benefits of the rubberlegs, is that it is heavy, but you will need to add a few split shots to help get it down. It is also time to start using your medium thingamabobbers, the fish are much more comfortable with larger indicators at this flow. Put your 3 and 4 weights away, it is time for the 5 and 6’s to come out. Bigger flies mean you need a larger stick to turn them over. Begin to start looking in the flats and shallower areas. As the flows increase, the fish will be pushed out of the deep fast holes and seek out softer holding water. We already saw a few fish doing this, and they are much easier to get to at this point.
The weather was perfect in the morning and the bugs were loving it. This is the first time this year I have seen caddis come off in good numbers, but that was not all. We were also seeing a fair number of BWO’s and Stones as well, along with those size 32 midges I saw last week. There were big bugs everywhere.
Huge worms, stones and craneflies were floating in the water. It is like one giant buffet for these fish right now. Fish were not just laying on the bottom, some of the fish were moving several feet to gobble up our flies!
After we had our fill of Deckers, and the thunderstorms rolled in, we decided to go check out some creeks. To my surprise, Goose Creek is low and fishable right now. I alrady had it in my head that runoff was going to have it blown out, not the case. Although, the brookies still have a ways to go till they are in their prime. Their colors are washed out and they are still skinny. They need about a month of eating hoppers, beetles and ants before they fatten up, but boy are they voracious right now. I tied on a small slumpbuster and had them fighting over it! We harassed a few brookies for about and hour, then the thunder rolled in again and we were forced to hike out.
List of gear you need at Deckers:
#06-08 Rubberlegs
#10-14 San Juan Worm Red and Brown
#12 Microstone
#16 Graphic Caddis
#16 Puterbaugh Caddis Dries in case the fish begin to look up
Medium Thingamabobbers
9 Foot 3x Mono Leader
4x Fluorocarbon Tippet
BB and #1 Split Shot
Good luck and have fun!
-James