Fishing Report 2-8-08
Friday, February 8th, 2008We got lucky and the bad storms went around us, and our thoughts and prayers go out to those that where not so lucky.
Generation has been at a minimum, but all the rain dirtied up the river pretty bad. However, two generators where ran yesterday, so the river is nice and clean now. Fishing has been pretty good. Since the water is down now it is easier to fish. Its time to switch from lures and streamers to bait and nymphs.
Fly Fishing:
Dead drifting has been where its at! Sow bugs size 16 and 14 have been doing great. Since the sun is out one minute and gone the next, make sure you have a bunch of different colors. Try: Gray, Tan, Dark Gray, Olive, UV Tan, and the extra crispy. Copper Johns(16, 14) and all sorts of midges (18, 20) have also done very well.
The key to dead drifting is making sure your fly gets down to the feeding zone. This means use plenty of weight. Make sure your sow bugs a weighted, and your use split shot with unweighted bugs. The perfect cast is useless if your fly doesn’t get down until the end of your drift.
As far as leaders and tippet go use the same as always. A nine foot 5x tapered leader with a foot or two of tippet. If I’m on the lower part of the river I use 5x. If I’m up river from cow I use 6x.
Spin fishing:
With the water being low you can get some great bait fishing in. Remember that it is now illegal to use treble hooks while bait fishing. Jump in a boat and head for some deeper holes, and find some good sized moss beds. Fish right beside the moss, not in it. Wax Worms and power bait are doing great. Try using a pink or yellow power egg with two or three wax worms. Fisherman are currently using Carolina rigs with a 1/4 oz weight about 12-18 inches up from the hook. Make sure you use nothing bigger than a 4lb leader. Anything bigger than that will scare the fish.
See you on the river!
Chris
