Smith-Continued

[Woolly Bugger]

I was up that way the other day, checked up on the damn dam progress. Low sun in the sky made for bad photos. You can see the terracing of the hill side - I still have no idea what the final hillside will look like when the complete it.

You cannot view this attachment.


But progress, as slow as it seams, is being made.


 

[Dougfish]

I decided to head down Thursday before the rains came. The last trip of '24.
Family and travel will eat up the next week.

It took me a while to locate my fleece wading pants. I had not seen them since we moved, so it was an adventure.
But luckily found.

I took my time getting down there and had not planned on staying long unless a two hatch occurred.
It did not.
And the water up below the damn was extra chilly.

You cannot view this attachment.

Three trucks at the Mirror parking lot.
Track walkers?

You cannot view this attachment.

One more hemlock bit the dust.
You can get around it, river left.

I started out swinging a soft tackle duo. Caught a couple of small browns. Missed some bumps.

Went down to Keith's run and swung up one more.
I knew a drug those flies over some good fish, too. 
Ate some lunch,  grabbed a fresh beer and went back down to try something different.

Swung a rusty wholly bugger and picked up a couple more. Worked back upstream with some downstream strips and caught another.

You cannot view this attachment.

Savage strike from this 15" bow.

You cannot view this attachment.

Brownie chased it downstream.

Called it after that.
I hope you all are having a fine holiday season.
And I wish you a Happy New Year!

You cannot view this attachment.

You cannot view this attachment.

Cheers.
    
 

[Woolly Bugger]

#25 - 6 Gas $2.82 upper 60s mostly sunny

Back to the old grind in Bassett town tossing the usual stonefly and dropper. I hit a riffle or small rapid and hooked into a rainbow that gave me fits. It used the fast current to stay on the far side of the rapid and I couldn't move it or get its head up, it took the dropper, a wd40 size, b #20. I figured that I would have to let it run or try to get below it, but I wasn't sure I could run down the slippery rocks without using my wading staff. I kept pressure on the fish as it moved downstream, and I grabbed my staff and started working my way down. I got a good look at the fish as it fought the current and the pressure of the line. It was colored up and looked to be 18 if not 20 inches with some girth, a real showstopper for a stocker. As I tried to get below the fish tragedy struck and the fly popped out. Damn damn damn. That's the way it goes with small flies, big fish and fast water.

From hero to zero in a sec, I really wanted to land that fish. Never mind, I'll continue. I managed to catch an average brown before trying another location, where, despite favorable conditions, I didn't even get a bump.

#25 - 7 has spring arrived? it was in the mid-70s and sunny

I even saw a few caddis in the air, fishermen were out too. I moved on from my first choice and settled for trying for a repeat from yesterday, but with the spey pole instead. There was a chartreuse and white clouser on the rod and I saw no reason to change it. Casting went well and I covered the entire beat with anticipation but was denied. There is a 65% probability that I got a bump.

Moving on, I was just about to climb down the bank when I spied a Smithfly with a spin guy getting ready to float through the run.



So, I checked out some other spots and settled for some easy access spots to swing flies....

I swapped out the spey rod for the 5 wt Recon with a stone and wd40, I was sure I was going to catch something. Well, I did, I snagged some structure in the middle of the run and had to break off. I retied with a double stonefly rig and went back to work. Unfortunately, I managed to snag the submerged tree branch again and broke off. Having lost 4 flies in a few minutes, I reeled in and quit!
s
I caught nothing but enjoyed the day.

Back at home I got a package from Ross Reels, the evolution that I have has a nonstandard foot and it isn't big enough to sit properly on my Orvis Recon, I fired of an email to Ross several weeks ago and after a few back and forth discussions, they sent me standard size foot for the reel.









Easy replacement and now I won't have to use a shim to hold the reel tightly in place.

[creakycane]

A few fish looking up in the ripples, perhaps for the odd stonefly around yesterday afternoon.   Found a stocker at one point, and numerous small eager browns.   Only about 2 hrs stream time and I had to head out.  Noticed the river bumped up around time I left; back to 260 ish.   

[Woolly Bugger]

# 25 - 11 Cool and breezy with some sunshine

I went to swing flies, I know this is a low numbers game, but I've enticed some nice fish in the past and I planned ot hit a few spots where I thought they were hanging out.

Had to stop for gas on the way.



I got to the river about 2 and swung through a run for about an hour, nothing cooking there, so I moved on.

Second spot was a repeat of the first. no dice, but the casting was good despite the downstream wind. I've reaally got to work on my cack-handed casting.

Beavers are everwhere on the river now.



Third spot I got a grab, did I trout set? I'm not sure but the thrill of the tug was short lived.

Anyway it was a nice day to get out.

[Woolly Bugger]

#25 -- 16 Gas $2.76

I saw that they dropped the flow and ran up to hit the upper section on Saturday. It was crowded, with fishermen in most all my favorite spots. I saw a couple of rafts grinding their way down the low water. I looked around and checked out the old mirror plant spot and saw a truck parked there. Maybe it's safe to go in on the weekend or they're just rolling the dice.

You cannot view this attachment.

All the while I was listening to "The Boys in the Boat" and was really into the story. When I got out to check the river  the wind was whipping by in strong, hold onto your hat, gusts and I questioned if I really wanted to fish in those conditions or just continue listening to the book. I drove on up to the damn dam and saw more angler here and there, thought about jumping in in a spot or two, but ended up driving back out and checked the mirror plant agian. This time there were multiple cars and a gaggle of kids running around wiht fishing gear. I pulled in and talke to the adult. He claimed that the other guy in another truck had told him it was ok to fish there. I explained how the mirror plant had posted the property and that the railroad wasn't fooling around either. He was from West Virginia and had fished there in the past. He wrangled up the kid and decided to head elsewhere.

I drove back through town and finally decided to get my boots wet. Swung flies for an hour and didn't catch a fish. Moved on down to anothe spot and rigged up some nymphs and caught a couple of rainbow stockers before it was time to head on for a dinner date.

[Woolly Bugger]

#25 -- 17 warm windy and sunny


Ran up to the river for a couple of hours. It was crowded with anglers up and down the river. I was getting ready to jump in when  a spin guy waded on down through the run I was about to fish. I moved on.

Hit a run and and caught some stockers and a few browns. A few bugs were in the air, but I was nymphing.









It was about 3 to 1, rainbow to brown ration. They may be stockers but they jump and pull too!

I finished listening to The Boys in the Boat, https://amzn.to/4j5UMic , it is really a remarkable story.

[Woolly Bugger]

#25 - 18 Gas $2.76 70s sunny

I couldn't make up my mind but finally decided to head on out to the river late in the afternoon.

I listened to the latest episode of Dan Carlin's Common-Sense Podcast on the way up. It was disturbing and frightful. Damn wierd times we are in.

Once I got to the river I forgot about politics and concentrated on catching trout. Today was the reverse of yesterday with browns out numbering the rainbows 3:1. I worked the runs in this stretch and caught fish for a coupled of hours, finally getting hung up and breaking off my rig. I felt this was a sign to quit. So I drove home in the setting sun.

[Woolly Bugger]

#25 -- 19 Gas $2.76

Ran up late in the afternoon with some ice in the cooler. I planned to harvest those rainbows that I had been catching.

I think someone beat me to them... I only caught one brown.

I snagged an overhead branch, snapped it out of the tree, recovered my flies, plus a Chernobyl Ant, a nice jig nymph and a pare of PTNs that were rusted.

That's all for that evening.

[Woolly Bugger]

#25 --21 Gas $3.06 Mid 50s and cloudy


Stockers need loving too. I drove around looking for a spot and noticed a Conservation Officer parked at one spot. That motivated me to check my license as it usually expires around the first of April. I pulled it up on the app and was a bit surprised to see that it had indeed expired.    A few clicks later and I was good to go! 

A few spots that I wanted to fish were occupied, so I settled for an old favorite.

Fished for a couple of hours and caught nothing but stockers. They were stacked up in the runs and I caught a few on back to back cast. They were feisty and had a lot of vigor so much so that the biggest, of around 18", was too much to handle for a photo. I had fun catching them, despite them having worn tails and nubby fins.



They all looked like this one, some being smaller and a few larger.



Carry on!

[OldKent]

Drove up to the Smith and fished on Tuesday the 15th. Beautiful, but fairly windy day with air temps in the low 60's. Had hoped welcome in the spring with a little surface midge/bwo fishing, but there was absolutely ZERO insect activity above the water. Nothing.

In fact, after all the years of fishing the river this time of year, I have never spent several hours on the water, sampling different spots, without seeing one solitary single rise, even by a tiddler. I finally nymphed a while to take the skunk off and picked up a couple of browns, but wading and high-sticking at the "new" normal discharge levels is not easy for me at this point.

[Woolly Bugger]

but there was absolutely ZERO insect activity above the water. Nothing.

I was up the other day, and saw a few sulfurs and caddis, but not a single fish rising. Things should begin to start popping soon.

[Woolly Bugger]

# 25 -- ?? -- Gas $2.89 partly cloudy in the low 70s

I drove on up to the Smith in the afternoon and checked the river in several spots on the way to my destination up near the damn dam. I pulled into the boat ramp at the 666 bridge and noticed an elderly gentleman fly fishing not far from the ramp, a women (daughter or wife) stood on the bank and offered encouragement. Fish were rising on the far side as we observed caddis flies flying about. I wished them luck and drove on up to the dam.

I fished a soft hackle but the fish didn't show any interest. Swithed to an elk hair caddis and too a number of small browns. I noticed a number of sulfurs and switched flies, but they were pretty damn picky, then as quickly as it started it was over.

Weather alerts chimed in on the phone, so I called it a day and took my frozen feet off the river.

Water temp at the damn damn; 44 degrees. Next time I'm wearing electric socks 

[Woolly Bugger]

#25 -- ?? Gas $2.95 I'm guessing upper 70s, partly cloudy.



@Fishbug sent me this video last week, its the most awesome sulfur hatch on the Smith that we've ever seen. When I got back from the PFF, I had to go check it out. So, I drove up late in the day to see if I could get into some dry fly action.

I checked out a few spots and settled in when I saw a lot of birds working the water.
I only saw a very few fish rise, so I tied on a soft hackle and waded into the run. It didn't take long before I felt the tug. The bugs grew thicker and a good number were floating on down into feeding lanes were they were picked off from the surface. Time to switch to a dry.

I a caught quite a few before it slowed down and I packed it in at 7:30