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The title of this post describes conditions on the Rio grande where it flows between Creede and South Fork Colorado. The river is filled with Browns, but they seem to feed only with cloud cover, or after 5 in the PM.
I would really like to get in some more productive angling hours during the day. The morning (dawn) is way too cold.
Those of you with experience with Browns--your advice for daytime fishing?
Daytime browns, particularly BIG browns are a tough sell during the bright part of mid-day. Your best bet for day time is to concentrate on deep shaded locations with good holding cover. Under cut banks, tree, and tree tops in the river, etc. If no hatch is on or no indications of surface feeding, I'd be drifting streamers, bucktails, matukas, muddlers or woolly buggers through these spots. If the dead drift wasn't working I'd try twitching them through followed by various strips to see what might entice a strike.
I'm not familiar with your geography but I'm hard pressed to imagine "too cold" in the morning to fish? Maybe to cold for people, but the fish and their feeding cycles are going to be driven by water temps (and light cycles), not air temps. You might not have any luck getting a hatch on in the cold but nymphs and streamers ought to produce some fish.
I've not night fished for browns but, a number of the folks on the board have spoken very highly of this time period for prime brown trout fishing. I'll let them lead that discussion.
unless there's been a very hard frost, try crickets under overhanging trees, bushes, etc., or just next the bank, or other good cover. don't grease the tippet because it's better if it sinks. crickets last for quite a while as fall goes on, and they make a big tastey meal. my own preference is a Dave's Cricket with the legs pulled out to the side so they really show up. caught one of the biggest browns of my short angling career on a cricket floated over an 8 foot deep hole which i could see to the bottom of.
HCR -
Don't really have any idea what the Rio Grande is like, but what you describe is pretty typical brown trout behavior. They much prefer low light conditions, whether from cloud cover or dawn / dusk conditions.
Having said that, around here the large majority of my fishing for browns is between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and as often as not, on clear, sunny days. On the cloudy days I will as likely fish big nymphs in the deeper and slower water. On the clear, sunny days I will more likely fish streamers in the same kind of water.
I like to fish baitfish / sculpin streamers. This is about the only one I use up here.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...o/P9160027.jpg
I present it down and across in water that I know or think will hold the browns. I don't let it swing, and have never used it in a dead drift presentation. The fly has lots of action. Slow, steady strips have consistently brought the best results.
If the Rio Grande provides forage for the brown trout in the way of baitfish or sculpins, this fly and presentation should get you some action.
John
Crown Royal and a good cigar?
Locally(Ark and Tn), our trout seem to come out with bursts of sunlight. I guess it spurs a small hatch.
In conditions like this, if I haven't experienced any satisfaction doing some upstream exploring with some dries that have produced on tough occassions in the past, I'll usually resort to fishing it up some with an X-Caddis dry (for example) w/a suspended beaded/weighted soft hackle or such hung below.Quote:
Originally Posted by HCR
Keep working up until you decide to fish back down with just a good wet/soft hackle swung into places that would be a difficult cast otherwise.
You might be surprised....
Given that, sometimes that's failed too and that's we call it fishing. If it were simple ... it would be boring, eh!
Try this. It's saved the day on more than one trip.
Jeremy.