duaneredford.com   "Fear No Water"

Hidy Ho Good Neighbors!

I’m lovin’ me some October.  Dawg days of guiding are over, leaves are changing, nip in the air, tricos and fall caddis are popping, and pheasant hunting starts for me and the pooches later this week.  Yessir, life is good.

I’m not going to spend much time in the pheasant fields til November, still plenty of fly fishing to do, but I am getting the dogs out for a tune-up soon.  Been six months since they cruised the bluffs.  In the meantime on the river, the fishing’s been good.  Although a large portion of our watershed suffered from the floods, we were basically spared from damage.  Being so close to the dam and the fact we didn’t get half of the rain others got, we made it out with some higher than normal flows and off-color water.

Of course, I guided through it, we all did.  Whenever I run into conditions such as these (high off color water), I employ a strategy that has worked for me over the years.  Quite simply, I will run bigger, darker bugs, and approach the river “blindly” with a grid approach.  I’ve talked about the grid before, but this time I posted a video at http://youtu.be/r1vLfha4vTM   , so you can get an idea of what I mean.

As for the bugs, I throw basically what the river offers, which in this case was bigger dislodged bugs like Stone Fly nymphs, worms,  Crane Fly nymphs and leeches.  All dead drifted under an indicator.  My theory is the darker the water, the darker and bigger the bugs.  I will also throw truly fluorescent colors, not just bright colors, but fluorescent. A size 16 black pheasant tail was the bug of choice during those conditions with the red San Juan Worm a close second.

Get the right speed and depth, run bigger darker bugs, and pick the runs apart systematically.  Makes for productive off color fishing. As a side note, be careful when wading in conditions such as these.  If you can’t see your feet, and aren’t familiar with the run, not a good idea to get too deep.

Thanks for tuning in, and Fear No Water!

Duane

 My boy Johnny with a super fish!