Coloring Up

Merry Christmas,
I was out this weekend and the fish are feeding.  The fishing on the river is putting up good numbers of fish in every size range.  I fished multiple ways all with good results.  I also believe you have to be versatile in your fly box after the water tops out.  Every morning I would try to start at the top of a riffle.  Throwing 7-9' nympghing rig with normally two #4 split shots 14"above my worm/scud/egg, 18"trailing another worm/scud/egg.  The best combo was a scud (orange) size 10-14 on top with a purple San Juan trailing.  As the water rises you should work your way up the riffle as the fish are moving up to get the newly uncovered food.  After the rise we moved onto calmer runs of water sometimes barely moving (bottom duck,upper 9 shore,8).  Here midges were working well along with streamer patterns.  With allot of  the bottom growth  washed away fishing the big patches of clodophora is ideal.  Dead drifting is key, along with no taper from pulsa to first midge as well. I tie 5' of 5x to my leader, were i put my square not is were i at attach my pinch on indicators leaving a tag so it has extra hold allowing it not to slid down with the icy conditions.  Using tungsten headed midges allows us to run no split shots!  I was using silver or gold heads with black or red zebra patterns with a size 16 on top and if the water was faster trailing it with a 16, if calmer we trailed with a   size 18 16"-18" down.  The bite is suttle so ease down on your sets and you will hook more fish.  Another drift in the slow water was dead drifting streamers.  Same set up as the midges and most of the time no trailers but we did trail scuds and have a few takers.  The best pattern was the simi seal leech with a red head no trailer.  These areas are in the sun most of the day which is nice.  Toward the end of the day we drifted banks that receive sun or still in it.  We stripped streamers from the bank with the 250 gran sink tips.  The fished were chasing the olive woolly bugger and hitting it on drop in between strips.  The best tip when doing this is try to imagein the fly being 4-12" from the bottom so you have to change your strips as the banks drop off.  All of the runs we did were in slow water so we also drifted the midging rig out of the boat. The last drift I had a streamer leading and a midger drifting and had 4 double ups in under 50 yards of water.  This stretch of water is hands down my favorite piece of water, if you know it have fun.  The REDS are appearing in some of the common locations.  I had a guy run three different glow bug patterns threw two reds and no luck.  We put a purple worm on and caught both. Fish are getting ready to spawn and coloring up.  I will be back out this week and keep you updated on the activity's.  Remember to dress warm and the Walk In is always open.
Kyle
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December 2012 - wade/drift days

Hello all my fellow fishers out there,
The fishing is good this winter, we are really enjoying some great fishing and still decent winter weather. Most success has been with San Juan worms (#14 orange favorite), scuds (#12 ginger favorite), and the occasional Zebra midge (#16 lazer zebra midge favorite). I have also been starting to experiment with the egg patterns too with some success, as the spawn is just getting started at Lee's Ferry. 
In the morning as the water is rising (9,000 cfs to 16,000 cfs), the wade fishing is ideal, as worms and scuds become available in large numbers until the water tops out in the late morning to early afternoon. When the water is up usually after our lunch break then the drifting has been successful as well.
A special thanks to Sue, and Maurry for a great December trip.
Happy Holidays everyone,
Mick

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Worms

These pics are for last weeks blog.  Two separate fish both packed full of worms. You can see on the one there coming out of her gills!  The weather is cold and the fishing is hot.  We will be out again this weekend and keeping you posted. Thanks Ashton for capturing these pics something I have never seen before.

Kyle

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Walk in

Everything that could of went wrong did this morning.  I fished the walk in this morning from 8-11 today and  it was expensive.   I fished the top of the boulder field and the fish were there.  The water was still low so I started with a 7' nymphing rig two#4s a ginger scud and chocolate San Juan worm.  Second cast I had a double, two fish probably 10-11 inches put me in a fast current and my tippet snapped.  Two fish stuck together,two new flys down.  I thought the two were to much for the 5x, but turns out my tippet spent to much time in the sun.  I broke off the next three fish before I changed spools of tippet.  After that mess I continued to hook fish, fight them but never land one.  I changed everything from length, how I set, drag everything I could think of couldn't fix it same results.  Around 9:15 the water came up and didn't top out tell 10.  The fish moved up into a foot of water and sometimes less . I had the best fight on my way back to shore with a nice football in shallow water but lost it as well.  Scud and worm, double worms were the only flys I thru today and they were working. I intend to redeem myself going to change rods and dress thicker next week.  The walk in was empty and the fish seamed to be feeding.  Next time I will throw streamers as well at 11 the suns glare is unavoidable,making it impossible to see a indicator. Tell next week.
Kyle
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December 7, 2012

Hello fellow fishers,
 Fluctuating water flows have started a feeding frenzy!  Fish are improving in health and girth.  Fishing a standard  9' nymphing rig with  San Juan worms and scuds is were its at.  Gravel bars river wide are putting up great fish.  The water is on a fluctuation pattern with changes from 9,000cfs to 15,000cfs which is making fishing great.  This first week of December has constantly put up high numbers and better improving sizes.  The first fish was caught back in November he had length but skinny, all the rest are this weeks. With the 6,000 cfs change thru the day the fish are feeding and putting on solid weight, the population as a result is in great condition.  Special thanks to Bill Hayes, John and John,"Tight lines, and remember to keep that tip up."
Mick

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Post Flood

Aftermath from flood,
Took three guys up this Saturday that were new to Lees Ferry and had a great day.  We started the day at 4 mile,  my first demo drift never made it to show what a mend was before I was setting.  The fish at four mile were gourging themselves on worms.  Two or three we fish we caught had mouth fulls of live worm crawling out of there mouths and gills.  Never have I seen this and it was awesome fishing with a san jaun worm.  Fish were drawn to dark colors,chocolate,maroon,purple the lighter colors which I perfered, orange,flesh, light brown they didnt like.  I started the morning out with all three nymphing but thrown differnt flys, one scud w/egg, otter egg/worm, worm/midge.  Caught a few on the midge think we came onto the bar while a hatch happened, but once it was over they didnt want anything but a worm. With a higher flow for this month alot of fish were up shallow seraching for food which let us do some sight fishing which is always exciting. We did a double dry 16/20 in calm water on the sides of seams and eddies and had a few takes.  We also fished 14 and 8 both spots we landed fish.  Im excited to go drift from the boat and see if we can find some bigger fish. Hopefully I have a day out to my own to try this and keep you informed this week.  Im also headed to the walkin this morning so I will be sure to let you know how it goes.
Kyle M.C.O.

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