Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Fishing Report

by Bill Mason

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We’ve entered into what I call the "post hatch," in between stages of our fishing. Although fishing is decent, because of the lack of serious hatches angling has become a great deal tougher then it was two weeks ago. It now takes some skill and knowledge to find and move the bigger fish—and that’s common for this time of year. Water levels remain good. Productive days should be had by most anglers. You just have to work at it.

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SILVER CREEK—Hatchwise, there really isn’t much going on. A little of this and a little of that is the best description. Regardless, fishing overall hasn’t been that bad. You just have to be creative and be willing to fish small dry’s to have success. A few PMD’s are seen and a Parachute PMD #18 will take the occasional fish. Callibeatis and the tiny Beatis hagena is also found and a Speckled Spinner #18 as well as a Mason Quill Beatis Spinner #22 works nicely. In addition, Ants, Beatles, #18-20 and Damselflies will all take a few fish throughout the day. Flashback Peasant Tail Nymphs #16-18 can also be deadly. Brown Caddis is seen at dusk but the greatest success comes in fishing a Caddis Pupa #14-16, just under the surface. The fish are not taking the dry stage so there is no need to fish it. Midges are also important and a small Para Adams #20-22 will take fish. Trico is still not seen but should begin to appear in about a week.

BIG WOOD RIVER—A lot tougher than past weeks. The problem is mainly in moving the big fish to the surface on drys. Lack of hatches of size is the reason and it should be this way for a few weeks to come. Fish can be found in the shallow riffle areas but most are smaller. As a result, we are now doing a lot more nymphing to find our better fish. Bead Head Prince, Copper John’s, Pheasant Tails and Brown Bead Head Soft Hackles #12-16, are all taking fish. Regular and Yellow Para Adams, Gulper Specials, Yellow Cranflies, and High –Vis Beatis #14-16 seem to work the best for surface activity. Don’t expect to move any bruisers will fishing them. If you have good technique, you will have a nice day fishing the Wood. If you don’t or are unwilling to fish subsurface, it could be a disappointing day.

BIG LOST—Running about 360 cfs, it’s manageable but still a little higher then I’d like to see. There is some surface activity with Para PMD’s #18 but most of the most productive fishing is with nymphing—big Prince Nymphs, Copper John’s and Bead Head Soft hackles #10-14. Big Cranefly patterns are also not a bad thing to carry and fish as well.

WARM SPRINGS/TRAIL CREEK—Both are fishing reasonably well with Warm Springs continuing to produce the best. Para Adams #14-16 and Prince Nymph’s #14 seem to work.

PENNY LAKE/LAKE CREEK—Fishing well for planted fish using bait, spinners and flies.

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