Fish, Flies, and Flow

This river is on fire right now. Anyone whose fished the Q since our recent rain event I'm sure has seen as stellar action as I have. I fished it yesterday evening until dark. I can't say it enough, 100 CFS is the perfect flow for this river, especially for the spot I frequent (if you've read this in the past you know where that is). I hit all the usual pools, runs, and riffles and ALL of them had fish. Rainbows and Browns 12-16 inches. The setup of the day was a Chartreuse-headed wooly bugger with a caddis pupa trailer slightly weighted. Fish were hitting both flies, the caddis usually on the drift and the bugger on the swing. The beastly brown pictured above smashed the pupa on a swing - he came out from underneath the tree you see in the water in the picture below. Speaking of, the rain changed this river, not as much as Sandy and Irene did, but you can see the new piles of sticks/brush downstream of where I fished. Anyways, I fished from "the wall" to "the pump." Caught fish all the way down - easily 20 fish. I even got a double - a 6" brookie took the caddis pupa on the drift and just before I set the hook, a 12" rainbow hit the bugger. The brookie came off at my feet before I netted them. I ended the night with an elk hair caddis on the 3-weight. Caught 5 more on the dry, all rainbows. Caddis were everywhere and there were some light yellow mayflies coming off as well.

It was a great night. The river is absolutely perfect right now, hitting all 3 F's (flows, fish, and flies). If you can get to the river this week, I suggest you do it. Because as we saw last year, who knows how long the flows will remain where they are.

-NC

Streamside Blog

Caddis, sulphurs, and march browns all coming off the Q right now. If it wasn't for the gazillion CFS flow I might catch something...

NC


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Cinder Worms and Caddis Pupa

So much to update, so little time... I'll try to be brief.


Stripers: I went to a RI spot with a friend the weekend before last to target some stripers for my first time. Pun intended, I'm hooked. My friend was gracious enough to have me on his boat and showed me some of the popular and easily accessible wade spots. We hit the clousers early, nothing much doing. Around 3pm we made our way to a spot Todd was sure there'd be some cinder worm action. He was a great guide, sharing insights about flies, spots to go and when, what to look for, etc. The only thing missing was me paying him.... I caught my first striper (although not a big guy) on a cinder worm I tied in one of Todd's classes. It was a great time and I'm looking forward to future outings chasing line siders.

Trout: I went to Indian Hollow this past weekend (sat-sun) for the TU council outing. Fishing was slow saturday morning and throughout the afternoon. Come 3pm it was like somebody turned on a switch. Quickly caught a bow and a brookie on trailing caddis pupas. Then a hefty rainbow on a drifting hares ear. Come sunset, both March Browns and Caddis flies were coming off. I took 3 bows and a brown on a march brown dry. When they stopped hitting that I tried a caddis emerger, fished well past dark, and landed 7 more (browns and bows). Easily the best outings I've had this year. The Westfiled is a beautiful river, it's too bad it has such a hard time holding up throughout the summer. Sunday morning was productive as well, 3 more rainbows came to the net to a swinging caddis.

I'm heading to the Q today and Friday afterwork, then its the Millers this weekend for the big browns for the first time.

Tight Lines,

-NC

Fish are spreading out

Two great things I've noticed this week: the fish are spreading out and theres rain today and tomorrow. I fished downstream of the Harris st river st bridge yesterday, WELL below the the big turn. Caught a healthy 16" rainbow subsurface (pictured). Nothing rising but still tons of caddis coming off. Got more takes even further downstream. With the rain, the fish will probably even spread out more, which is ideal for a long summer of fishing. Get those healthy stockies to spread out early and find the holding areas and feeding zones. Then it's up to you and me to find them. Its not as easy as throwing bait off a bridge.

Right now flows are at ~50 CFS and still climbing from the sub 40 it was earlier this week. I've always said I love this river at just under 100. Well see if the rain can get us there.

Quinnie update

Well, the hendricksons are here, and according to the DFW, so are more fish. I was at my spot this evening after work, didn't catch a fish, but spotted both dark and reddish-pink hendricksons coming off around 630pm. Should make for good dry fly fishing over the next few weeks if the fish get to normal eating habits quickly. My spot has been very unproductive for me so far this year, I am surprised to say, and I am wondering if they have not or will not stock it this year. This would be disappointing as its some of the best water on the river. I assume all the other normal suspects were hit with fish this week (Harris st/river st bridge, lower harris st bridge, the cable pool, rte 31 bridge, and mill st bridge). Rail Trail bridge off Harris st may have gotten fish as well.

If you are looking for something to do with the kids this Saturday, head on over the the Fulling Mill Trout Park in Charlton for their FREE fishing day. This stretch of the river will be freshly stocked with plenty of fish to catch and you'll have a great time doing it!

-NC