February 2, 2023
Flows: 113 cfs. (Above the hatchery.)
Water Temp: 40F @ 1:30p.
Water clarity: Clear – visibility ~4’.
Air Temp: Low 25F @ 9a – high 44F @ 4:30p.
Hatches: No visible midge or BWO hatch – although fish were rising in the afternoon to emergers and adults.
Flies: #16 Red Bead Head Midge Larva , #16 & #20 Brassie, #22 Soft Hackle Black Bug, #24 Miracle Midge, #22 Rojo Midge, #20 Bead Head Pheasant Tail, #22 Flashback Black Beauty, #20 Parachute Adams, #22 Sparkle Dun, #24 Matt’s Midge, #24 Griffiths Gnat, #22 Crystal Midge, #24 Black Beauty, #20 Brian’s BWO .
Top producers: Flashback Black Beauty, Black Beauty, Crystal Midge, Matt’s Midge, Brian’s BWO.
A Great Blue Heron in flight.
How can you tell for sure there are fish nearby in the water without sighting them?
When a Great Blue Heron slowly works the bank near you. That’s how.
When I say slowly – you have to watch a Great Blue Heron in action to get an appreciation for the word slow. (Action is not the best choice of words here). They pick a spot along the bank where fish are holding and they move ever so slowly, positioning themselves for a quick strike. They blend into the rocks and brush along the bank and move so slow you can barely notice their movements.
Once in position, they very – very – slowly dip their head toward the water – then the quick strike. Or they jump clumsily from the bank for a very short flight into the water – landing again clumsily. But before they hit the water – they strike quickly with their long neck and beak.
Brian and I were fortunate to get to watch this crafty bird yesterday while fishing below the dam on the Tailwater. It was quite a sight - more on that later.
The river dumping into the Observation Hole.
For a change of pace, we decided to fish the upper most section of the Tailwater. A section of the river that we haven’t fished for a few years. Our plan was to start at the Observation Hole and work our way downstream to the Valco Ponds Run, hitting The Cliffs and the Hatcher Hole along the way.
As we geared up it was very chilly - 25F - at 9a in the morning. I even suggested a later start to avoid the cold morning temperatures – but as it was – it didn’t work out. So once geared up and ready – I decided to watch Brian instead of fish. Too damn cold for me.
The Observation Hole is so named because of the observation platform above it. One can stand there and peer into the river and easily pick out the fish – if they are there. The view from the side of the river below is quite different. The observation platform and riverbank are on the south side of the river and cast a shadow on the water. While standing at the side of the river below – you can’t sight any fish. It’s just dark water.
Brian took his place below the observation deck. There is a very limited amount of space – enough for one fisherman. The bank is steep and drops steeply into the river where there is a deep hole. I took my spot on the observation deck where I could spot the fish and guide Brian to them.
Brian's 1st fish of the day.
Brian Kenney.
There were a bunch of them. Big and small. They moved around in groups – fifteen to twenty – maybe more. There were some other fish scattered about – two or three here and there. I guided Brian into the big group ignoring the smattering of other fish in smaller groups.
It wasn’t long and Brian had a hook up. I could clearly see the fish fighting below me. It was a nice one! But after a bit it broke free. Darn it anyway!
With all the fish feeding in the water you’d think we were going to slay 'em. I surely did. But it’s a tricky spot to fish and there were variables working against us – that at first – were not obvious.
Case in point. Brian got that big one at the end of his drift. He could only move a few feet because of the tight space – so that was the only way he could get his flies into the zone. As I’ve said many times in previous blog posts – it is very difficult to get a good hook set with the flies downstream from you.
Here's a look at the mystery aquatic insect or organism. (We're working to ID them).
Brian Kenney.
Also working against us was the swirling currents that were causing drag on the flies. There are about three different channels where the water flows faster into the hole. There are huge, submerged boulders that created dead spots in between them. The hole is so steep that you can’t wade too far into the water which limits your reach. High sticking over the current is only an option on the channel nearest the shore. The fish were hanging in the dead spots and even though we were able to our flies to them – a lot of the times there was some drag. Sometime slight – other times more pronounced. But even the slightest drag and the fish will ignore your flies.
Then there is the case of very selective feeding. Those fish below me were gobbling something up. When we first got there my guess was midge pupae. After Brian got one to the net and pumped his stomach – he noticed some “microscopic” sized something. We could see them with our naked eyes, but I used the term microscopic to emphasize how tiny they were. And there were ton of them in his belly. Upon inspection, they were translucent with a dark vein in the middle. I could see several swimming in the little amount of water in my hand.
It’s hard for me to believe that the trout were targeting these tiny, tiny creatures - unless there was a cloud of them in the water. In which case maybe the trout swam into the cloud, mouth wide open like a whale – ingesting a bunch of these unknown insects at a time.
My 1st and only fish in the net. The dam is in the background.
In any case, they sure weren’t hitting our offerings. Oh - we did land a few of them over time – but with the number of fish and with their activity I would expect we’d be landing them on every other cast if they were eating midge or BWO pupae. Speaking of which, we usually find midges hatching in the morning, but I didn’t see any activity. Later Brian would tell me he saw a few midges in the air, but it wasn’t a pronounced hatch.
As I was spotting for Brian, another guy showed up and we chatted. After a bit he said he could see some fish at the tailout of the hole. I looked down and could see them too. They were on the opposite – downstream side – of the hole from Brian. Climbing down the bank and getting into position to cast my flies to them would be very difficult.
The bank consisted of huge, snow covered, uneven boulders. With the snow cover the footing would be slippery and once down by the river there was again very limited space to stand and cast. But I climbed down anyway. I had warmed up by that time and there were fish waiting!
A video of the mystery insect swimming.
Brian Kenney.
I often find that when I see fish in a certain location from up on the bank – this time from the observation deck – I lose track of that spot when I get to the river’s edge, I can’t remember exactly where the fish were. I try to locate a landmark of some sort to help me. This time I think I took what looked like the easiest and safest way to the river and ended up off course. Luckily the guy was still up on the observation deck and helped me get my flies into the zone.
I was out of position though. Downstream of them about twenty feet or so. I had to cast upstream – over top of them – and let my flies float downstream into them. Not ideal. But I was stuck in my spot – so I casted as far upstream as I could. The idea being to get my flies in the water without spooking the fish. As my flies floated downstream, I had to strip line in so that I didn’t have too much line out. If I didn’t strip the line in and a fish hit – the hook set would be impossible.
On one of my drifts the guy says “you right on it” – then I saw my indicator slightly wobble. Was it the bottom or a fish? I assumed a fish and set my hook. Sure enough it was a fish! He then proceeded to swim right at me, and I had to strip more line in in order to keep my line taunt. I made a good effort, but there was a second or so that my line was more slack than I liked.
But I still had the bad boy on. He then took a run. In these cases, I normally hold the line with my hand and quickly reel the line in until all the line is in my reel so that my reel’s drag can help fight the fish. But I had so much line laying in the water I began to let the line out of my hand slowly as he fought to swim away, reeling line in at the same time. I almost had all my line on the reel – then the line went slack. It didn’t surprise me. I was pretty clumsy with that one!
The guy left and I wasn’t sure where the fish were – if the fish were still there. So I climbed back up the bank to the observation deck. I could still see the fish swimming around in groups and Brian was still after them. They looked to be near the surface – maybe a foot or two below it. It looked like Brian’s flies were below them – so he took off weight – and eventually had no weight on at all. That did the trick and he caught that first fish.
Then it was my turn.
The Great Blue Heron standing motionless.
While I was waiting, I rigged an HDC (Hopper/Copper/Dropper) setup with my spare rod. I used a lighter weight #20 Bead Head Pheasant Tail as my Dropper and followed that with a #22 Flashback Black Beauty and a #24 Miracle Midge. I thought the Miracle Midge would look a little like those tiny insects – even though it was much larger. And the HCD setup would keep my flies near the surface.
What looked easy from the deck was not. I found out firsthand how the limited space was a handicap and how the current messed with my drift. On top of that there was a slight wind that made mending very difficult. Non the less, I was able to get my flies into the zone – with Brian’s help from above – on a few occasions. There were two times when I had a fish hit and missed them. That is unusual when using the HCD setup. There was only about four feet of tippet from my Hopper (acting as my indicator) to my last fly. When a fish hits the reaction from the indicator is almost immediate making the set more effective. But not this time.
It was about noon when I finally landed a 12” rainbow. He took the Flashback Black Beauty.
While I was fishing Brian ate his lunch. Soon after releasing my fish, we changed places. Me above eating my lunch and spotting – Brian down below fishing.
An interesting shot of one of Brian's rainbows.
Brian Kenney.
After finishing my lunch I spotted more fish in the tailout. They were close to shore and nice size. So I climbed back down but this time I got into position where I was supposed to be. But it didn’t do me any good. The water was very slow in this section and very clear – not an ideal situation for catching fish. I was using my nymph rig, and I think I spooked them just by drifting my indicator and flies to them.
A lot of times when there are fish in clear view they keep me engaged – whether they’re hitting or not - way longer than I want to be. And this was the case today. For me – and I’m sure for Brian too – it’s the challenge. Why aren’t they eating my flies? I make all kinds of changes – more or less weight, depth changes with my indicator, smaller tippet, different flies, different techniques, and even entirely different set ups. Then when you look up – the morning or afternoon is gone.
That’s what happened to us. By the time we left that hole it was going on 2p. And we had a bunch of water to cover if we were going to make it down to the Valco Ponds Run. We could have made a bee line to it – like I did a few weeks back but there was new water to explore, and we wanted to give it a try.
The next hole down was the Gauging Station Hole. Riffles give way to a nice deep run along the north side of the river. I was first there and as I waded out to get into position to fish the run with my nymph rig, I noticed a lot of fish in the soft, slow water before it. They were rising to eat emerging pupae and some adults on the surface. I couldn’t see the adults to identify them. My guess was BWOs.
The Great Blue Heron mid-flight.
My nymph rig wouldn't work here – so I waded back to get my HCD rig. A lot of times when fish are rising you can get them on wet flies too. Especially emerging patterns and especially when using an HCD rig. As I began to cast to them Brian showed up and took up a position upstream from me.
The rising became more frequent. We could see them in the slow, shallow water. A lot of ten, twelve inch ones, a fifteen’er here and there, and smaller ones too. That’s when the Great Blue Heron showed up. On the opposite bank only about 20’ from me.
They’re fascinating to watch. Big, prehistoric looking. When they’re stalking fish - to say they move slowly is a gross understatement. As an example, when they lift their leg to take a step it’s in super slow motion. The same thing when they move their neck as they get their beak in position for a strike. That’s the only thing they do quickly – the strike. I’ve seen them walk up to the river and stand motionless – then move ever so slowly until their head is just above the water. Then BANG!
Brian saw this one do just that – but he missed. Then later I watched him jump from the bank, wings spread – kind of a glide of about fifteen feet max – then land noisily on the river. Then he flew away with a 12” rainbow in his beak. He had his back to me when he hit the water, so I’m not sure how he got the fish – but I’m pretty sure he struck with his head/beak before his body hit the water. Otherwise, he would have spooked any fish in the area when he landed. I was surprised how clumsy he looked. But he got his fish – and entertained us too!
As for the fishing? Well – again it was adjustments. They wouldn’t take anything on my HCD – so I had to make changes. First I changed the wet flies below my Hopper to dries. Then I took off my Hopper and fished exclusively with dry flies. Then to dry flies with a dropper hanging off the last one. Changing to smaller tippet as I went along.
The Great Blue Heron stalking his prey.
I went with BWO dries to start with. No interest. Then I changed one of them for a Matt’s Midge and had two on and ---- they both broke off. Brian got one on a dry fly he created. I call it Brian’s BWO. It’s a pattern that he made to look like some BWOs he saw a few weeks back on a different section of the Tailwater. He gave me one to try but I didn’t get any interest with it. I did get another one on a Parachute Adams but ---- he broke off.
Brian got one using his nymph rig and I got one on mine too. Brian got his in the net – another 12” rainbow. Mine ---- broke off!
It was kind of Deja Vue. Fish in sight feeding. Changes to flies and tippet. Changes in technique. Lots of time. We never made it much farther downstream. We did explore the area though – making it down to the pedestrian bridge. Between the Gauging Station Hole and pedestrian bridge - at these flows – it was mostly flat, clear water with not much to hold fish.
We were out of steam by then. Another day on the river getting reacquainted with a section of the river we hadn’t fished for a while.
Here he is again. Love this shot!
It was a challenging day matching wits with some wily trout, trying to figure out the code. And we got to watch a Great Blue Heron work the river and take flight – fish in beak!
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