I was fishing a new (to me) part of a river yesterday. Picking up fish on a regular basis when I came to a very interesting section. Main part of the river (likely a small stream to some of you) in this area was 30 - 40 feet across and 2 - 3 feet deep. Opened up at a bend to 150 feet or so wide and a deep pool - 10+ feet. Where the river widened, along the edge of the pool, was one of the largest eddies I’ve seen in a small river like this (80+ feet X 50 feet or so). In the middle of the eddy, I could clearly see at least 10 browns actively feeding just below the surface. (Small #22 or 24 BWO hatch going strong). BTW, they were all facing in different directions.
Now the problem: For the next hour I tried to catch one of those actively feeding fish - without success. I tried casting up, down and across with dries, wets, emergers, nymphs and even a streamer. Pile cast didn’t help and it was too far for dapping. The fish were in the middle of the eddy, current going every which way, lots of food swirling around them - and I couldn’t find an approach where I could get the fly (other than the streamer) to them without the eddy messing up the drift. (I even tried a longer - and a shorter leader. With all that goofing around, the fish continued to feed). Remember, I had been catching fish prior to (and after) finding this eddy, so I think current is the problem, not choice of fly)
So what would you do to catch them?
All helpful ideas will be put to the test on my next trip…
Position yourself down-stream. Chuck several large rocks just down-stream of them, scare the crap outta the little buggers. Continue untill they have escaped to a better position for you to cast to. No problem, not necessary to thank me. I do this all the time.
Hi,
It’s hard to know without being there to see how the water flows, so this may not apply. However, it sounds to me that fishing long would be the way to go. Get well upstream, wade out so you are above the fish, and do a long drift down to the fish using, a small wet fly of some sort. The problem sounds like the currents are complicated, and by casting across them, that just puts too many forces on the line and pulls the fly around too much. If you get on top of the fish, and drift down “with the current” rather than “across it”, that may help. Just make sure you enter well above the fish and feed out your line on the drift.
Did you try any attractor type flies? I’d try something like a stimulator or royal wulff…basically, a flashy fly that also looks somewhat “buggy”. In the event this doesn’t work, bring along a bag/satchel to carry some rocks in. I’d use some golfball sized rocks (you don’t want to KILL the fish, just scare them), and toss them gently, so they don’t bounce off the other rocks and come shooting back at you. Also, use your non-casting arm, so your free to cast to the fish when they get within range.
I watched a news report on TV about 10 years ago where they caught a guy doing just that on a small stream. He had positioned a shopping cart in the middle of a small waterfall. He then went upstream and chucked rocks at spawning coho . Then ran back and forth in the pool driving them downstream. About 15 or 20 went over the falls and filled his shopping cart. He then pushed his shopping cart over to a nearby large shopping mall and proceeded to sell the salmon where He was arrested. People were lined up to by 10-15 lbs fish for Just $5.00 each. He tried to claim aboriginal rights till it was proven he was not a native. :shock: A newscamera crew caught the whole thing on tape. I won’t swear to it but I think it was in the Capalino river near North Vancouver.
