Quinnie 6-8-16

Took dad Fishing today.  Hit the trout brook pool at 6:00am had top water action until 7:45ish as usual once the sun hits the water the action stops.  Got tired of fishing on top to no fish so switched to a soft hackle pheasant tail and a bead head hairs ear.  Hares ear took a brookie and then it was time to head to work.

Flies tried: best guess as to the fly of interest is something brown.  Dad had a hard slap on a brown cahill and I had a hard look at an elk hair caddis in green body. The dace liked the caddis.  Lots of flies rising no idea what they were.  1 week ago a black gnat and a mosquito were the most successful.

Miller's river

SKUNKED!!! Enough said. I tried everything under the sun. Soft hackles in pink, orange, yellow, bead headed pheasant tails in 10 and 16, green caddis, red caddis, etc.   Nothing. Fished in the morning from 6 till 8:30 then headed home.

Tues at the Q

Well back to home waters.  The river has started to reach summer form...  decided to look at some newish water today and headed down stream from the pool.  picked up a nice healthy little brook trout on a light cahill nymph followed that up with a couple of dace.  After working my way down to the footbridge pool with no big fish to show for the effort I fished the run for a little while.  Managed to turn one fish in the slough probably also on the cahill.  In an effort to get back on that fish I switched to a partridge and yellow that I had tied.  This brought nothing to hand - perhaps something that is lighter would have been better served.  Regardless the river seemed to go to sleep around 8:00.  Might have to start fishing earlier in order to find actively feeding trout.

River 20 CFS; 64 F at 6:00 am

New water

Decided to head to some new water today. While fishing the quinnie has been fun I feel like I'm starting to know the fish by name.  Do I decided to try the Miller's.   This would be my second trip to the river having been on it last year once as well.  I decided to fish the bear's run area. This is a big river or at least much bigger then I'm used to. 

While I'm still learning this river I don't really expect to catch much.  Having gotten a river guide it helps but you still have to read water and drift correctly. I managed 1 brown trout my fish on this river he came from an inside seam on a curved bead head pheasant tail nymph. 

He was on the inside seam of a run and the nymph needed some tungsten help getting down.  I followed that up with about 1/2 a dozen dace the largest going around 8 inches.  Walking out I spoke with another angler who was swinging wets.  He had better luck then I scoring 2 browns and a rainbow n. Claimed the hot fly was a partridge and orange.  I had tried a yellow with nothing to show and the other angler echoed my experience. Go figure.  I had that in my vest and opted NOT to tie it on.  I will probably try and make another trip some time soon to explore the area some more.

River 55cfs; 67F

Fri Q trip

The quinnie is starting to heat up.  Not the fishing mind you but the river itself.  The levels are starting to really drop and the fish are starting to get holed up.  The diet has also changed.  Running some soft hackles up the river this AM there was not a single dace was even interested.  Odd to say the least.  Turns out the river dynamic might has changed.  Tying on a caddis nymph followed by a light hendrickson nymph yielded much better results.  The dace were now active and a rainbow liked the caddis.  Both are much smaller than what had been working but there was no denying they were what the fish wanted.  Go figure.....all told the tally for the day was a single rainbow trout and 8-10 dace.  If I had a little more time I think the change in the flies would have produced many more fish.

Father's Day Trip

Well all I wanted was to take my little girl fishing in a real stream with fish.  I got my wish.  To make the day a bit more fun and easier I purchased some waders from Cabela's in the smallest size they had.  Meg being the trooper that she is loved them and was a real good sport thorough the day.  As it is with fishing with Kids I got to watch more then fish but Hey that's what I wanted.  We caught a nice little brown int the big pool by the brook.  Since Meg loves Fish he came home with us.  Moving up stream to one of my favorite runs we both shared a rock in the middle of the stream while she fished.  Luckily the Rainbow who has been hanging out int he run found her worm to be a good offering.  He gave her quite the fight and with plenty of line out she had the opportunity to learn about drag and how to fight a fish.  It was a blast.  The trout was slated to come home with us as well but unfortunately he had other plans.  As I grabbed for the line to get my hand under him he wrapped around me and the rock.  Pulling the line yielded nothing more then a hook with no fish attached.  I think I was more upset then Meg but hey when you get lemons you make lemonade and she learned that not all fish can be caught.  We fished for a little while longer but she got board and let me fish trying to catch another to go with our brown trout.  After snacks were done where an ant brought a blood curdling cry; who knew eating crackers while sitting on the bank would bring ants?!? We fished a bit more and then called it a day.  What more could a Dad ask for.

Tues on the Quinnie

Sorry no pics today.  After getting a few hits on some soft hackles from the other day I decided today would be a 2 fly soft hackle day all day.  There is some different presentations for saft hackles one is to ccast up river and let the flies float down to you the other is to cast across and float the flies down and across the seams.  After today I can comfortably say that I MUCH prefer the upstream presentations.  Actually both fish I took were that way but regardless it feels better to me.  Which is to say I think I getting better drifts and I have better control over the line.  Fishing up steam into the water I'm most comfortable produced a dace and a nice little brown who gave a heck of a fight before spitting the hook at my feet only to get tangled in the top fly before getting netted.  I caught him upstream of where I would have been catching fish but the water looked good to me to.

Fri Morning 6/6

After Mother Nature decided to dump over 0.5" of rain on the river yesterday I managed to get out before work this morning.  The river was cool (61F) and the water was flowing (56cfs).  Which is to say this cool wet spring has been good for this river.  I started out with a pheasant tail and hairs ear nymph combo.  That has been working nicely on this river all spring.  It seems the fish are keyed up on one or the other.  Today the Dace liked the pheasant tail in the section of quicker water up from the trout brook pool.  Working up stream further found me needing to add some length to the indicator.  Once that was accomplished this fellow came to hand after a nice fight in which he put himself on the reel quickly.  After this terrible pic of him he self released showing he still had some fight left in him.  Getting the monkey off my back I switched to some soft hackles I had tied last night.  Using the same tandem of a hairs ear and pheasant tail except this time in soft hackle I worked my way back down stream.  I have come to realize that I am a terrible soft hackle fisherman.  I have no faith in the technique and when I get a strike (of which there were numerous today) I fail to manage to get the hook set.  As with many things I'm sure with some practice I will eventually get it down but it is very frustrating to have suck hard takes with nothing to show for it.  

Sunday Morning

Well after unsuccessfully trying to get my cousins and uncle to go fishing at the swift with me I decided to head to the quinnie.  Walking down I was met by 2 people fishing the main pool.  The guys were very nice and we chatted for a little while as I rigged up.  One was tossing a lure and the other was fishing worms.  The worm guy caught 3 while I was talking with his buddy.  I decide to start with a pair of soft hackles.  They were not that productive mainly due to my slow reactions.   Leaving the big pool and heading up stream to the next run produced nothing. Similar to when I fished it with dad.  Since I had enough of that I decided to head down stream.   I have been down there much this year.  Fishing my way down there produced a tiny brook trout in some pocket water on a hairs ear.  Working down stream produced a nice lively brown in a deep plunge pool.  He came hard for a hairs ear and after a few good runs was released unharmed.  Well that was 2 of the 3 species of trout that can be found on this river.  So far this year the Rainbows and Brookies have been hard to find so while I was hopeful for a 3 species day you can never tell.  Working my way down didn't produce much in the heavy water.  Finally reaching the Pine Tree pool I was hopeful but not optimistic.  Last time I was down here it did not produce much of anything.  When the flooding happened a few years ago the pool changed a bit and has never been as good as it once was.  However my pessimism was unnecessary as shortly after entering the pool I hooked up with the final trout in my 3 species day.  Meg has been bugging me to keep some fish lately and since this river gets really low and warm in the summer it is unlikely the rainbows that are stocked will survive.  So in order to appease my daughter I decided to keep him (lower fish).  He really didn't fight all that well and pretty much bull dogged it staying the center of the stream.  He also tired quite quickly which is not surprising given the water temp.  I assumed that he would not be enough for the family so decided to continue to see if he had a buddy in the same hole.  After a little while a second fish also came to hand taking the same curved bead head pheasant tail as the first and came home for dinner.  Needless to say Meg loved the fresh trout which given her love of fish is not all that surprising and one fish was enough for the family as Nora did not like it one bit.

Spring Tues

With a bit of a memorial day hangover I got to the river a little late. I fished down stream to the pine's pool with no luck and decided to head up stream.  I was fishing a soft hackle in front and a small bead head flashback pheasant tail trailing.  Since the trip down was uneventful when I jumped to the other side of the river I tied on a grey scud and another beadhead pheasant tail trailer a little bigger then before and with no flashback.  The walk up river was also uneventful until I hit the brook pool. This is where everyone fishes by evidence of the equipment left in the newly fallen tree and the worm box trash left streamside.  Intending on heading up above to the run I just couldn't resist the begining of the big pool.  Since I had to cross over to get where I was planning on fishing there was no harm in casting a line before wading across.  Fortunately for me the dace were in the section of the stream.  After playing with them for the better part of 10 minutes I finslly managed toy get one of the hook.   The little bugger managed to get it all wrapped up into a mess so in order to save time I cut the flies off.  What to tie on.  Well the water was perfect for that soft hackle that I was using before and the pheasant tail was smaller so the dace would be fun.  Tied it on and on the second drift through something slammed it hard.  A nice 8" brown who thought he was a flying fish repeatedly launching himself from the water.  Once to hand he was released unharmed. Another drift or 2 and something big thought my float looked appetizing.  Two strikes later and it was time to head to work....never did get that fish to come to an actual fly.

Fri return

Well I had to take Friday off for some family commitments but those didn't begin until 10. So what was I to do. Easy talked my Dad into a trip to the Q for a fly fishing trip.  Figured I had the fish patterned after Tuesday but unfortunately NO.  The hairs ear brought nothing to the net. All that was managed was a small brown on a pheasant tail?!?! Fish haven't been hitting that all season.  Did manage a stock bow in one of the deeper sections of the river on a black cone head woolly bugger.  He pulled a steelhead trick and came shooting out of the water to the head if the pool only to come back down and head to the back of the pool where he lost me.  A nice size fish with a well executed plan on how to loose a fisherman.

Tuesday at the Q

Hit the Q this morning before work.  River is running around 140 cfs today. Fishable but hard wading.  

Managed to find a nice bow and a pair of browns.   Lost a good fish after a few aerial displays in my favorite hole on the river.  A flash back hairs ear was what they wanted probably due to the slightly off color or the water. Also needed some weight to get it down. Couple of pics.

The Bow:

One of the Browns:

This is the only river I have ever caught all 3 species of fish on.  Today it was not meant to be...perhaps another day.

Q in the am

Decided to try some exploring on the Q today.  Went down one of the more famous tributaries.  It's really nothing more then a trickle but today it held fish.  Caught 8 on an even mix of a elk hair caddis and a bh hares ear.  All browns but non the less it was some fun. Hopefully the coming rain won't blow things out.

Quinnie 4-21

Fished the quinnie again today. Caught a dace small enough to used for shiner bait on a small bead head hares ear. The fish actually took the hook. Lots of fish hitting the indicator today. Switched to a caddis dry and nothing doing.  Turned one good fish at the hidden pool bit after that he would not come back.  Should have tied on a green caddis nymph as I had one on my boots when I was leaving.  Go figure.

River 90CFS Temp:50F

Swift in Spring

Went out to the Swift river on Sunday 23rd of March.  To say it was a slow day would be an understatement.  First skunking of the year. In this river you can usually see the fish and in turn they can see you.  So at least you know you're casting at fish.  Not so with today...no fish to be had in the usually spots.  Where there were fish there were LOTS of people casting at them.  Did manage to find one small pod of 3 and had a single take but nothing after that.  I don't know if the fish are getting wiser or what but it seemed that you got one chance at them and that was it.  No amount of changing flies would help either.  There doesn't seem to be much life in the water these days additional evidence was the presence of the hook and worm crowd being right at the rt. 9 bridge all stacked up like fish trying to get over a dam.  I went down to the hatchery pool and tried my luck there as well.  Met 2 fellow fishermen coming out and they said they were skunked as well.  Go figure.  Hopefully with the better weather the Swift will get an infusion of some life.