Jimbo
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I hope everything went well. I am still out in Bodega Bay California. I will be back this week for a series of medical procedures, but hope to be on the water later in the week. Thanks again for everybody who showed up to help with the stocking. These times of COVID mean you have gone above and beyond the normal physical effort to put these fish in the river for everyone to enjoy. You are my heros !
Now let’s go catch some of these fish and release them all happy and healthy for all sportsmen to enjoy and let’s be good ambassadors of the sport at the same time! There are a lot of anglers on the river. Let’s all share this wonderful fishery. Allow others to come and fish along side of you. Strike up conversations to let them know they are welcome. There’s is room for all if you just put yourself in the other fishermen’s boots.
Jimbo
There was an issue with anglers coming and parking before the allowed hours of the LAP, 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset, dawn to dusk. Anglers were coming at like 4am in the morning and of course disturbing Chris Jackson and his family. So the gates were closed until official hours of operation. I think he might have been so mad about it that he locked the gates for a day while he talked to Dan and myself about the problem. This is one of the main reasons we lost JDL years ago, LAP members arriving way too early. It is very important that all LAP members obey the rules. Members who do not will loose their rights as LAP members and violations can result in the loss of valuable sites.
Jimbo
I said this before, but low flow years are challenging, this one especially. Clear waters, minimal flows, heavy pressure from many anglers, it’s going to be tough. Myself I’m catching about half my normal number and I’ve been fishing this river since the 70’s for Trout. Also these fish have not made the usual switch to concentrating on naturals, which they should have by now. I think when they do make the switch catching will pick up. But every year is a learning experience and opportunity to try new things. I’ve caught a good number swinging soft hackles, but most guides are still fishing junk…. worms and eggs…. I do expect things to change as we get away from the New Year’s. I also also suggest to pray for rain. Increasing the flows will help everyone as the fish will not get as long to look at your offerings before deciding to strike or turn away.
Jimbo
Action Angler is a LAP site. Not sure what happened with Jfranklyn. Displaying your parking tag on your rear view mirror and wearing your LAP tags openly and easily seen should have been all you needed. I would have gone to the flyshop to straighten things out. The gates have been locked overnight lately because members and non-members have been coming to park as early as 4am to get a spot. Again LAP sites open 30 minutes before sunrise and close 30 minutes after sunset. People were coming at all hours waking up Chris and his family, and this is not acceptable behavior. This is one of the reasons we lost JDL years ago because members were coming way too early at a limited parking site.
Jimbo
Glad you got out there and kept trying. It has been a tough year with these low water conditions. It is not surprising these fish are hard to catch. Stealth is of utmost importance this year. The better you are at approaching this fish quietly the better you results. Years like this those fishing from boats are at an advantage because they don’t cause much commotion, no boots making noise as you wade, not as much silt stirred up letting them know something is upstream. Keep working at stealthy approaches and keep your mind open to more than just fishing indicators. This spring if it’s like the past several years, more hatches will come off, and dryfly fishing will be more productive.
Jimbo
1976
Combos for all the combination locks are the same and are on the back of your parking tag
Jimbo
What Kevin said is correct. If flows were even 100cfs there would be more Trout that make it down to RRC. A couple of years ago when flows were 500-600cfs wading was difficult and the one day I had to fish most of the accessible water was covered up. Crossing the river was extremely limited to a few spots. So I went down to RRC and was the only flyfisherman there. I worked upstream all the way to the bridge. In the riffle section about half-way there there were Rainbows in every drop. I caught well into double digits. But that was an exceptional year. Nonetheless there will be a few fish there now and more especially in late January and February. In these low flows they will more likely harvested, but if you want solitude from there all the way to Lower Rio you will have it. Another plus is the deeper hole about 100 feet above the bridge. Wading is treacherous with many slabs and deep drop offs, but some fish will hold in that deeper water because noone can easily get to them.
Jimbo
The best Places would be: Rio, Lazy L&L, and Action Angler for pay and fish….
Then again if action is all you wanted The dam access and Huaco Springs….
Jimbo
My first real day fishing since before the first Rainbow Trout stocking was Friday. Started at #5 at 8:30 and was the 5th vehicle parking there. I geared up and and saw many anglers and boats between the weir and Rio. I hustled downstream to the drop at Barking Dog pool. Two anglers were there and we talked and fished together, but no fish were caught while I was there. They left after a while for S Turn and worked some oft overlooked spots, but caught zero nymph fishing. So I followed downstream too. Mountain creek pool had about a half dozen anglers fishing, a drift boat and several kayaks. There were about 4 anglers covering the Lower Slot. I was looking into the water between BDP and there. I decided these fish were neutral and decided to change tactics and start throwing streamers. I tied on a wooly bugger and soft hackle trailer and started throwing that around. That’s when Kevin came upstream and gave him a holler. I asked how he done and he said he had been there since dawn and already caught about 10 fish. I asked what he had hooked them on and he said mostly a red and white spoon. Kevin carries a flyrod and a light spinning rod. He was talking about a classic very small Daredevil spoon he uses. That told me what I suspected. The guys that were all nymph fishing below us were in casting class. Kevin and I stayed up there and chasing the passing pods of fish. My first one was a dandy, a hen which I thought was about 3 1/2lbs and Kevin thought closer to 4. We both worked these fish and caught many while those below us watched. I got to double digits in the next couple of hours. During this time it went from blue bird to overcast which I really think helped the bite. The major was also in the late morning, which didn’t hurt a bit.
I left after noon, stopped at Action Angler looking for more soft hackles, ate some lunch, and then fired up my computer trying to finish off a real estate deal I’ve been working on. In the afternoon I went to Pott’s, it was covered up by guide boats and anglers, and then jumped to Kanz hoping for some more bites, but it wasn’t very good at all and I packed up and went home.
So my conclusions for the day were: these fish are still in hatchery mode. They bite early and really should late too(but not this day), they are still podded up, you can get a strike out of a pod of fish because of their competitive instincts, cloud cover helps, as does fishing during the major, and when they are full it’s essentially done for the day. This is all typical of early days after stocking. I do think the low water is hindering getting out of this pattern and them spreading out and getting into a pattern where they are relying on feeding on the naturals available in the river.
Jimbo
We need to be teaching these new generations the joys of flyfishing. Creating these future advocates for the sport will ensure it’s continued success in restoring our cold water fisheries to the grandeur they once had….
Jimbo
It usually is a chaotic tussle when facing such a large fish… Good Work !!!
Jimbo
Hard to say, when fish get fungus from spawning it’s usually on their nose, tail and belly. But I would guess someone with dry hands wanted a hero shot of this fish or worse yet dragged it up on the shore removing it slime coat. As much as we would all like everyone who fishes here know how to properly handle these fish, they just don’t. Too many don’t even know that what they are doing is detrimental to the fish and the fishery. Understand that many are used to fishing for Black Bass or Catfish and don’t understand how delicate these fish are !
Jimbo
The really good news about the Lahontan Cutthroats is that about 4 or 5 years ago the discovered the original Pyramid Lake strain of the Lahontan Cutthroats in a small isolated stream in northern Nevada. Those fish have been used now for several years by the native Indians as brood stock for their breeding program. And there is now a fish ladder that allows for the Cutthroat to swim around the dam and back upstream to their natal spawning grounds. Someday we will see the return of the Monsters that once called this place home. And I am not talking about 40 pounders. Records indicate Cutthroats of a much larger size lived here when the 49ers came through and we are talking stories of fish past 60 pounds !!!! So If I do move to California this is probably the best thing about it. I will be able to stand on ladders and cast my foam beetles and tadpoles hoping for something beyond imagination….
Jimbo
It’s next on my list…. Fishing from ladders for the largest Trout species on the planet…..
Jimbo
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