Thursday, July 18, 2019

Muddy Waters

One morning last week or maybe it was the week before, I'm not sure for certain. We had a pretty heavy rainstorm in the early hours of that day. Now most folks know how fast a small stream can come up during such times and how they can come down quickly. So with that thought in mind I set out to fish a little stream that I just knew would benefit from a surge of rain. Fast and deep flows will move fish around and that thought was first in my mind. As I pulled into the cutoff to park my car I could hear the stream. The dirt pull-off was real muddy with a few big puddles. It looked like the rain had just stopped. I got geared up and headed to the stream where I saw a fast moving stream of "chocolate" milk. I was expecting the stream to be this bad, like I said they usually clear pretty fast, not so today. Well Alan make the best of it.



I tried several flies of various styles and colors with no interest shown. So an article I read a long time ago in either Outdoor Life or Field and Stream came to mind. The author talked of fishing a very off colored stream. As it began to clear ever so slightly he said "it's time to fish"..the fly he selected was a Leadwing Coachman. A dark fly. Looking into my box a did not have a Leadwing Coachman but I did have a black fly. I tied it on and cast it out. On my retrieve I took a hit. That was the start of a good day with that black fly.


Most takes were just as the fly was being lifted near the surface.






I was right on the rain moving fish around. Several were caught where I have not caught them before....It rained substantially yesterday afternoon and last night?









15 comments:

  1. Rain on a small stream do tend to muck things up. Looks like you fared OK though.

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    1. Mark Kautz
      Thanks
      Mark it may have been tough for me to see, the trout had no problem.

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  2. The nice thing about small streams is they tend to clear as fast as they color. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. PalphsFlyBox
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      Ralph so true. Happy to see the rain.

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  3. Always bet on black...I never leave home without them, be they wet or dry, rain or shine. Also, kudos for sticking with that stream...You got grit. Cheers.

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    1. Matthew Harding
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      Matt black has come through for me at times. Any sea-run action for you?

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    2. No sea-runs yet, maybe mid-August or early September when the Coho & Chinook come back.

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    3. OK buddy, I love hearing about those sea-runs.

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  4. A wee black spider always seems to be a good choice. Stewart really knew what he was doing all those years ago.

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    1. mike
      Thanks
      He sure did. Mike it amazes the eye sight the trout have.

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  5. Hi Alan,

    Looks like you hit it right there....

    When we get significant rain here on the Cleveland Plain and up in the Cleveland Hills, it take days for the river Leven to fine down and be fish able.

    We have got showers forecast overnight and through Saturday, so I will be going further afield into Teesdale where the river should be a lot clearer.

    Perhaps a Black Magic Spider may make its way on to my cast????

    Thanks for posting

    Alistair

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    1. Alistair
      Thanks
      Your choice of the Black Magic Spider is right on.
      I hope your time on the water will be exactly as you hope it to be.

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  6. Not yet this year, been limited to my home water due to my work (& home projects) schedule. The coastal cutthroat will follow the Chinook & Coho back up river mid-August or September.

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  7. Alan
    I'm not a fan of fishing murky colored or muddy water but you've proved such water can be productive. Thanks for sharing

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    Replies
    1. Bill Trussell
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      Bill most times I would not fish a stream when it was like that. I would wait until it cleared. But I was there and so I gave it a try and it was not bad.

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