June 15, 2020
Flows: 240 cfs.
Water Temp: 56F @ 9a.
Water clarity: Gin clear.
Air Temp: 50s @ 9a – high 70s @ 4p.
Hatches: Significant BWO at 10:30a and Caddis at 3p.
A view of the rocky outcroppings near the Beaver Run.
On the menu yesterday at 11 Mile Canyon were midge, baetis, and caddis – and Brian found a spot where the fish were lined up to gorge themselves on them. He was in the Beaver Run when I arrived at 8:30a. Brian arrived early and had already scouted the area near the 1st Bridge and found the fish lined up here. As I walked up to the bank I could see the trout in the shallow water on the north side of the river, and in front of a huge boulder about 10’ into the river.
Brian had already landed a few fish – 2 rainbows and a brownie. He did a stomach pump on one of them and found it was eating baetis nymphs and said he landed all of them on a Flashback Barr Emerger.
One of Brian's 1st rainbows. (Notice the unusual yellow fins).
Photo provided by Brian Kenney.
Here are a couple of caddis' that Brian picked up from seining the water. We also found baetis nymphs. (The greenish one is a later stage nymph or early pupa).
The Beaver Run is about 1/8 of a mile downstream from the 1st Bridge where you will find a beaver hut on the north side of the river. It’s hidden pretty well and about the only way you will find it is to step into the hole in front of it - like I did. Or you may be fortunate enough to see the beaver enter the hut – like I did! I happened to be standing right in front of it – when the beaver came home with a pile of seaweed in his mount. He then ducked under the water and swam into his hut – but not before he scared away a fish that I was trying to catch!
Looking downstream from the Beaver Run.
It was a beautiful morning and not very crowded at first. Then about 9:30/10a the crowd showed up – with fishermen both above and below us. Even though, we had about a 100 yard stretch to ourselves and there were a bunch of fish congregated along it in the shallow water and riffles along the north side of the river.
And it was lights out for a while! It seemed like we were catching fish on every 3rd cast – sometimes on every cast! And they were all nice size and strong fighters – making for an exciting morning! Neither Brian nor I counted – but I’m pretty certain that we had over 30 fish in the net between us. And we both lost quite a few as once hooked up, as they would run into the fast water and some would eventually break off. There’s a trade off on adjusting your drag too tight to keep the fish out of the fast water – and having your 6x tippet break.
Brian with a 18" rainbow.
Brian caught his fish – about 15 rainbows and brownies in the 15” to 18” range - on # 20-22 Chocolate Thunders, #20 Red & Black Zebra midges, #20-22 Barr Emergers, and #18-20 Pheasant Tails.
Here's me with a 19" rainbow.
Photo provided by Brian Kenney.
Initially, I was rigged up with a #16 Hare’s Ear followed by a #20 Disco Midge and a #18 Barr Emerger. I landed fish on each of these flies – but the Disco Midge was the hottest for the 1st hour or so. I was able to entice my two largest catches of the day on it - one was a 19” rainbow and the other was a 21” cutbow.
Here's the 21" cutbow. He jumped out of my hands before Brian could snap a picture of me holding him. (Notice the Disco Midge).
The fishing died down a bit for me after lunch – with Brian landing fish more regularly. I was using my Dry/Dropper setup and for the 1st time I can remember – it wasn’t effective. So I eventually switched back to my standard nymph rig and then started hooking up fish. What we both noticed was that the fish that we were taking in the afternoon were gorged. Their stomachs were noticeably plump – especially the brownies!
Here's one of the brownies.
There was a very sizable caddis hatch at about 3p. They were smaller and light tan in color. With the amount of activity of these little moth like flies all over the water – I would have expected a bunch of loud splashes from fish feeding on the surface. But it wasn’t so. Most were taking emergers just below the surface, but I did see – or maybe heard - a couple striking hard on the surface.
A favorite hang out for the fish – was the huge submerged boulder that was about 10’ from the bank. It seemed that different fish would appear on the far side of it – and they were nice size. Brian was able to land one of them in mid-afternoon on a nymph. He said that he drifted the nymph right in front of the boulder and the fish moved a foot or so over to take it. The fish were aggressive this way - as I notices several of the fish I caught did the same - moving about a foot to take the fly.
An interesting shot of one of Brian's brownies.
Photo provided by Brian Kenney.
At the end of the day – about 5:30p – there was another nice size fish that took up residence at that spot. He was feeding on emergers in the film just below the surface. I had spotted him just after I had a fish break my line on a rock. It was my nymph rig and I lost all my flies. So I was ready to leave when I spotted him - and my dry/dropper rig was still intact – so I thought why not try and catch him.
My dry was a Chubby Chernobyl and following it was a #16 Rubber Leg Copper John, a #16 Graphic Caddis and a #18 Barr Emerger. I had a #6 spit shot between the Caddis and Barr Emerger. After several of casts to the fish I noticed that my flies were not high enough in the water and I didn’t get any takes. So I took off the split shot and applied some floatant to my dry. Then on my next cast – the wind blew my flies and they landed almost on top of the fish – but a foot or so to his right. My first thought was – shit that’s going to spook him. And just then the fish darted to his right and hit. Not sure which fly he took - as I set the hook but didn’t get it solid. And after about a 30 second fight – he spit the hook.
So he was gone and it was time to head home. I’ll have another chance to get him – when we return to The Cafeteria.
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