I had the day off, so I decided to give the Smith a try today. Reports from the weekend were promising, and the signs on my almanac calendar were propitious, so I packed up my gear and set the alarm for 5am. Generation was scheduled for 1PM, so that would give me plenty of time, if I moved downstream ahead of the surge. (I forgot my camera, sorry, no pictures.)
Unfortunately for me, but probably not so unfortunate for the Basset area, there was a significant rainfall during the night. When I got into the area, I drove through a fair bit of standing water, and as I came along side the Smith, I could see that it was off color.
I went up to the upper section just below the dam, and was disappointed to see significant muddying of the river up near the trailers. I was able to find some fairly clear water about a mile below that, so I jumped in to fish until the color should work its way down. I got a good hour of fishing in at that location, and got a couple of nice 8" - 9" browns. After a bit, though, I realized that the water was too muddy for a dry fly, and decided to move on.
My original plan was to fish below the hay fields, but when I got down there, that part of the river was also muddy. Disappointed, I decided to go back upstream toward the spec. regs. section. As I crossed the bridge, I could see that the river was colored, but not unfishable. This time I pulled into the canoe access area near the last bridge. A couple of casts with a size 12 BWO, and I had a fish on. A Nice 12" rainbow that put a pretty good bend in my 4wt. A few more casts produced a couple more browns, including a 3" fish on the size 12 fly. I wonder if that was one of those trout in the classroom fish? I unhooked and released it carefully.
The action wasn't as brisk as I would have liked, and I changed flies several times trying to find something that would work better. Nothing got as many strikes as a bean sized wad of chartreuse bio-strike.
Still, it was a pleasant day, and the gurgle of the water around the legs of my waders always sooths me.
Footnote: Thanks for the surge maps, Al. I've saved them on my hard drive for future reference.
Nice way to spend a day!!!
Good work Paul!
Good work Paul. Take your camera next time!
Glad to hear about the rain - maybe my cabin lawn will start growing again - I'm not anxious to cut the grass but look at the lawn as a good food plot for the deer ;)
You need to get a little more agressive with that off color water - some of my best days have been fishing in water that I once thought was too muddy. Just go with a size bigger nymph and they will find it ok.
Hey, Al, I'm still just learning to fish, ... after all these years.
Quote from: phg on August 28, 2007, 19:48:50 PM
Footnote: Thanks for the surge maps, Al. I've saved them on my hard drive for future reference.
There are maps? you've been holding out on us....
Sounds like a good time! Nice report...."propitious" ???