Wednesday, July 03, 2013

070313


Headed up the Paradise Valley today with hopes of finding some straggling Salmonflies and big Golden Stones. I think they all vaporized in the last couple of days as a big bug was seen not by me all day. Fortunately, some fish were still eating them though so I can say that I got to fish Salmonflies on the Yellowstone again this year.
Something useful for Salmonfly fishing that I have picked up over the years and really noticed this year.  It can be a game of inches, especially if there is some water still out of the banks and in the willows. Fish typically like softer water when the water is high. They hug drop offs and hunker in the little eddies along the bank. So, if you can get your fly on the inside (bank side) of the seams coming off brush pile, rocks, and other crap along the bank...your success will increase exponentially. So, if you are going miles and miles with no love during Salmonflies...fish closer to the bank and get your flies in the heads of the seams before the lip of the drop off. Big difference...can almost be like fishing a totally different stream when it gets done right vs. when it is kind of half-ass done!
We ended up getting most of our fish on small attractor dries today, switching to that from big bugs early morning. Good numbers of PMD's and Caddis were bringing fish up, so we followed the waters lead and got it done. Sometimes the river doesn't lie!

No comments: