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Davidson river

Started by troutphisher, September 03, 2006, 10:52:38 AM

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troutphisher

I fished the Davidson river yesterday. The water was up pretty good, and the color was stained, visibility about 1-1/2 foot, the current was the strongest, I have seen in a long time.

I fished the C/R section above Avery creek, all the pools were flowing good, and the riffles where up.
I fished the hot wire john in the riffles and the head of the pools, the fish were on it. I caught mostly small rainbows, but in the current they felt big. The current was to strong to get good rises on dry, I tried to fish an 18 Adams in some slower pools, and did get some fish to rise, but they missed the take.


I hooked into one nice rainbow, maybe 16" but he fought hard and got off, I tried to get it out of the current, but it fought hard to stay in the current, then came off.

The next couple of days should prove to be good fishing, when the water slows down some.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

phg

I love that report, 'phish, it sounds promising.  I'm going to be in the area for a few days, and I'll be hitting the D a few times.  Hope the fish like what I've got to show them. 

troutphisher

Paul, be careful. the current was pretty strong, in areas.
It was hard to stand in some place's.

Have fun fishing!
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.

phg

Yes, in your pictures it looks very full ....  :o  Thanks for the warning.  Hopefully it will be down a bit by Monday.  I'll try to post my report next Sunday.

brownhunter

I fished it yesterday as well, but I was way up past Cove Creek and the fishing was good up there as well. Quite a few people up there, but not many fishers. Saw some large ones, but only managed to catch some smaller ones. Heading out in the morning to check out some other water. Nice report.
"Why, he wondered, did rich people call it sushi while poor people called it bait?"   -- Same Kind of Different as Me

lepomis_mcro

thank you for the report, i was wondering how it was fairing with the rain we had. sounds like it sould be getting back to normal
(mark 6:41)"Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then said to the crowd amassed before him. I have mine the hell with the rest of you."

taken from the christian conservative handbook.  how to deal with modern problems.

moodytrout

Was on the Davidson yesterday aswell, Late in the day around 6 pm .  16 Adams Did the trick for me on desperation pool  Good day

trout_boy_II

#7
I'm impressed with the Frustration Pool report.  I have had a little luck there at the head of the pool, but I've never tried it at dusk.  Have to give that try later this fall.

Trout_girl and I hit the D Saturday AM at first light.  I was glad to see that we were not the only one's catching smaller ones!  In fact, TG's 12" brown was tops in our twosome, with me maxing out about 6''.  I did catch a few more than she did, but a real disappointment after waiting for a number of weeks for the conditions to improve so we didn't hurt the fish.  Water temp was 60 degrees about 10:00 AM.  We knocked off at noon and didn't see or hear anybody else catching a bunch at least not any where near the Hatchery where we chose to fish, because of the higher water.  We both thought that we did not see as many fish as usual for what that's worth.

All in all though, beautiful day between the rain and I'm encouraged that we got as much rain as we did.  Hopefully, that will bring things more back to normal.  Sure were a lot of folks (many of them rude, unfortunately) there.  Many guides, teaching newbies that it was just fine to jump in the river 20 ft. ahead of someone!  I know the D. has heavier pressure than many rivers, but there's no excuse for that.  Happened twice to me and twice also to my bride.  Yeah, I know we can go somewhere else (and we normally fish above or below the hatchery on a weekend), but gee...  A great lesson for all the new folks...

I'll quit griping now.

TB


Wulffman

i was there on sunday too and actually did really well around the hatchery.  i know a lot of people like to use really small nymphs and midges for those fish, but the last two summers, i've had consistent fantastic success with big hoppers and sometimes even beetles and inchworms.  this was only my second trip this year due to the drought, and i managed about 20 on sunday.  about half were small guys, 8-10 inches, but the other half had some size.  my last cast of the day produced a 19 inch brown on the hopper and a couple of 12 year old boys who were fishing nearby at frustration hole helped me land it and take my picture.  they were struggling so i gave them each a hopper and and inch worm to try and some advice on how to fish them.  they showed me thier fly boxes and had nothing but large nymphs and some odd looking egg flys.  i caught several 14+ sunday on a big parachute hopper....all browns, and had 2 other big boys on the hook before they pulled free.  last summer i had 3 or 4 fantastic days catching browns up to 20 inches on top with the hopper and sunday was no exception.  i caught a few on an inchworm dropper, but most hit the surface fly.  it's true, there are far fewer fish above the bridge at the hatchery these days.  they all moved down in the drought to the long riffle below the bridge.  that's why you would see 10 or 12 guys all day sunday lined up in that riffle every ten feet...it looked like opening day somewhere.  but, you can see big fish everywhere there and they haven't moved back upstream yet even though the water levels have been mostly good for several weeks now.   between the bridge and frustration hole, and above frustration hole, there was hardly any fisherman.  i also walked way downstream of the bridge along that trail to find some solitude, but didn't start hooking 14 and 15 inchers until i got up to the campsites downstream of the parking lot.  i fished a beautiful section near where looking glass comes in but only got a few small ones.   anyway, i just wanted to again recommend to anyone that is frustrated by that river to consider sticking with terrestrials.  i usually only fish the D in the summer and just love how those big browns will come up top for a big bug.  you can't beat it. even those educated fish around the hatchery can't resist a big meaty hopper.  i've caught more large fish on top in the last 2 summers up there than i ever thought would be possible.  i don't know if it matters, but my usual fly of choice is a size 10 or 12 parachute hopper, which has a yellow body.  it's funny, but after i had great success last summer with big hoppers, and on some days, big royal wulffs (size 12 ish) on the supposedly picky hatchery-area trout, i saw Kevin Howell from davidson river outfitters give a presentation at the charlotte fly fishing show this february.  one of the things he recommended was to throw something the fish haven't seen much of, like big, bushy dry flies or big terrestrials.  i was thinking;  'amen, brother!'

Browntrout

Where exactly is this frustration hole you speak of?

I hit the D yesterday afternoon and used a large hopper with a bead head dropper and only managed one 12 inch bow before the rain set in....The Davidson has been frustrating me this summer. o-o
I love the smell of the Mountains in the morning

Trout Chaser

Quote from: Browntrout on September 11, 2006, 09:15:17 AM
Where exactly is this frustration hole you speak of?

It's the long slow pool above the fish hatchery.  Lots of very finicky fish. 

TC

peter p

Pre WNC day, we used this same technique when fishing the South Platte in Cheesman Canyon.  Most days, you start out with size 20 midges and get smaller from there.  Nobody ever throws anything different at them.  So, we tried Hoppers and they worked pretty well.  I'd recommend giving it a try.       
Peter