Rain swollen streams with unusual deadly results

Posted by rusty on May 9, 2008

     Well as I got off work this morning I couldn’t help but think about fly fishing.  The streams have been pounded by rain for the last several weeks and this week was no exception.  I arrived to the stream about 8:00 am to find that I had it to myself, no big surprise since the color of the stream resembled most mud puddles, but I thought I’d give it a shot. 

     I studied the water a little bit and realized that if I drifted nymphs or streamer low and slow, I thought I could pick up some fish.  Even though the skies opened up as soon as I got set to go, the morning proved to be a success. 

     I started with a fly that I thought would be a visual advantage for the trout to seen in the stained, or should I say muddy water, a wine colored San Juan Worm in a size 14.  After I fished for approximately 30 minutes I realized that this could be tougher then I first expected, but I pushed on and was rewarded with a nice brown that made an aggressive strike.  I no sooner released that fish and was quickly rewarded with the fish of the day, a nice 16 inch acrobatic bow.  Fishing the same run where the previous 2 fish came from, I kept dredging and a really nice fish hammered the San Juan Worm.  This fish was never seen but I had plenty of time to feel the weight of the fish and it was definitely a nice one that I would’ve loved to get my hands on.

     Now that I broke off I thought I’d try something else, so I tied on a size 14 olive soft hackle.  I fished pretty hard with the soft hackle and managed a few more nice trout.  That’s 2 different patterns that have produced on this raining day.  Being completely honest I can say I didn’t expect much to happen in the catching department with the conditions the way they were, but as long as the fish were active I wasn’t leaving. 

     Well the rain continued to fall, now at a pretty steady pace, and the trout kept feeding.  I thought that since I caught fish on 2 patterns, I’d try a third, so I tied on a size 16 caddis larva, green in color, to see what would happen.  After fishing the previous flies slow I really knew I’d have to slow it down with the caddis larva because of the small size and the discolored water.  I fished this low and slow and believe it or not, caught more fish with the caddis then I did with the others.  It just amazed me at how good a trouts eyes are to be able to pick up a size 16 fly in the muddy current, decide if it’s food, and strike.  I picked up several more trout with the caddis larva before deciding to fish a streamer.  Now I really don’t like fishing streamers and only go to them as a last resort, but today was such a good day I thought it was worth a try. 

     I fished the streamer for no more then 5 cast before the first of many browns became a victim of my olive Matuka streamer.  The more I fished the streamer the more I started to like fishing it, probably because I was catching fish.  Now this is the 4th fly that I have had luck with this morning, and I always try to tell people that the fly isn’t the most important thing and that proved right today. 

     I only fished about 100 yards of stream today because of the muddy conditions I had to fish slow and present the fly to the fish in a way that appealed to them.  Lets rewind here and remember I caught about a dozen fish, lost about 8 others and did so with 4 different flies.  If you ask me that proves my theory of Presentation is #1, and is something that I will always believe.  Next time your really itching to go fly fishing but the water conditions just aren’t right, fish low and slow and I promise you’ll catch fish that you thought couldn’t see your fly.  Also, the fly your fishing doesn’t have to be big, but it can help when the water clarity is a factor.  The size 16 caddis larva I was fishing found several trouts mouths, so just believe in the trouts seeing ability and fish your fly the way the fish want to see it.

     And as for now and always “tight lines”

     Rusty