Posted on July 28 2020
Sulfur fishermen, there's just no excuse if you're not catching fish. There are two hatches. both about two and a half hours long. The hatches are heavy enough to get the fish up. Bright sun in the afternoon seems to limit the number of big fish that are up but the evening hatch gets 'em all going.
They are fussy, a lot of them refuse your flies, many are feeding subsurface and don't look up but come on, Dave from the Troutfitter snuck out for a little over an hour tonight and landed five nice ones. Said "He's never seen so many rising fish". Anthony, who has been helping Dave at the Fly Shop and Inn, fished both hatches today and his total of fish landed was in double digits.
You've been told when and where the hatches occur. You need to fish small 18s and 20s, you need to target risers, you can't stand in one spot and cast at the same fish all hatch. Get out of the slow water pools, where it is the easiest to see, but hardest to fool fish. Fish water with some pace and look closely, they will be rising close enough to you that you could scoop them up with a boat net.
The fishing - Clouds caused a delay in the hatch as the water took longer to get up to a temp the sulfurs would hatch in. About 1:00 things started up. Fished a pool I haven't fished for several years. It's a bitch to wade and boulders break up the current making drag free drifts a challenge. The wind chose hatch time to kick up a bit adding to the degree of difficulty. Fortunately there were more than enough fish well within range. Every cast was made to a rising fish and enough fish ate to make it a good afternoon.
The evening hatch started on time and the fish didn't wait for anyone to ring the dinner bell. They all came to dinner and many ate what was put before them. A tired old twenty incher, who probably had been caught earlier in the day, ate one of my sulfurs and seemed to know if he came in quietly he'd be unhooked and sent on his way. Detained him only long enough for a photo.
It's probably the best sulfur fishing I've ever seen. Two hatches a day and a river full of more hungry fish than you can imagine.
They are fussy, a lot of them refuse your flies, many are feeding subsurface and don't look up but come on, Dave from the Troutfitter snuck out for a little over an hour tonight and landed five nice ones. Said "He's never seen so many rising fish". Anthony, who has been helping Dave at the Fly Shop and Inn, fished both hatches today and his total of fish landed was in double digits.
You've been told when and where the hatches occur. You need to fish small 18s and 20s, you need to target risers, you can't stand in one spot and cast at the same fish all hatch. Get out of the slow water pools, where it is the easiest to see, but hardest to fool fish. Fish water with some pace and look closely, they will be rising close enough to you that you could scoop them up with a boat net.
The fishing - Clouds caused a delay in the hatch as the water took longer to get up to a temp the sulfurs would hatch in. About 1:00 things started up. Fished a pool I haven't fished for several years. It's a bitch to wade and boulders break up the current making drag free drifts a challenge. The wind chose hatch time to kick up a bit adding to the degree of difficulty. Fortunately there were more than enough fish well within range. Every cast was made to a rising fish and enough fish ate to make it a good afternoon.
The evening hatch started on time and the fish didn't wait for anyone to ring the dinner bell. They all came to dinner and many ate what was put before them. A tired old twenty incher, who probably had been caught earlier in the day, ate one of my sulfurs and seemed to know if he came in quietly he'd be unhooked and sent on his way. Detained him only long enough for a photo.
It's probably the best sulfur fishing I've ever seen. Two hatches a day and a river full of more hungry fish than you can imagine.
As both a wader and drift boat owner I have to say that it seems like the drift boat guys are criticized quite a bit but not the other way around. For example, guys will wade at Norbord up to their chest and cannot reach the fish at the other side of the river. So they effectively ruin the area for everybody for no good reason. The rule should be that common sense tells you to not wade in deep holes. TO be fair the drift boat guys will sit in their boat in the red barn pool in Stilesville which is ridiculous.
OK, OK, enough teasing, we’ll be coming down to join the party. Love the blog, been following most days since Dave told me about it a couple years ago. As far as the drift boat report, I had a similar experience out west on the San Juan a few years ago. A local wade fisherman was with me….. he waded over, pulled out a knife and cut the line! Some colorful language ensued……which ended when he showed the hand gun carried in a shoulder holster under his fishing vest…..I was looking for a big rock to hide under!
I have to say my frustration got the best of me last night. I was on the no kill when a drift boat pulls up 15 yds from me and anchors down stream from me. If I hooked a fish it would have been a disaster. He left and another did the same thing. I can’t understand why they have to stop on top of you. I couldn’t move to cast to different fish even if I wanted to.
I left the river at 7:30. I get really frustrated when this happens