Author: Aaron Avestruz

My dad and I fished the Rush today from about 10:30 to 4:00. We started off pretty slow, taking a couple fish out of the first few runs. I tried a streamer for a while without any luck. Eventually I switched back to a size 16 pheasant tail and 20 black zebra midge rig and soon had six trout — the biggest being a 12″ brown — to hand out of the next run. I caught around eight more in the run after as well. I noticed a lot of rising upstream and saw plenty of BWOs on the water, and after a few drifts with the nymph rig, decided to change to a dry fly — a size 20 Sparkle Dun BWO. While I was re-rigging dad went about 50 yards upstream and proceeded to catch about a dozen fish — including 15″ and 16″ browns — without moving. He caught them on a size 14 prince nymph and 20 black zebra midge.  By the time I had my new fly on, the rising had really slowed down, and I was only able to catch one on top.

We ended up catching 20 fish each, and my dad’s 16″ was his best trout to date. The best fishing was between noon and 2:00; once the clouds cleared out, the bite slowed down. Most of the fish we caught were in riffles less than 2 feet deep, even dad’s bigger ones. The stream was a little clouded, but obviously fishable.

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We fished the Rush today from about 1:30 to 4:00. This time, however, we split up and took some buddies out. Aric hit the stream and saw fish rising to BWOs in the first hole. He ended up catching 6-8 fish, including one nearly 15″ brown, on a parachute BWO. He said bigger fish were rising, not just the dinks we’ve mostly seen of late. His friend was spin fishing and caught around six himself.

I took my friends Karl and Alex to a different bridge. I spent most of my time teaching Karl to nymph while Alex spin fished. Karl ended up catching 6-8, his biggest being a 12″ brown. He was using a size 14 pheasant tail and size 16 black zebra midge, with the majority taken on the midge. Alex caught five, with his biggest being a 14″ brown that came out from under a log to smash his spinner. I ended up catching four, all under 6″. We noticed a fair amount of rising when we first arrived, but they were all pretty small. The bite slowed down a lot in our last hour of fishing, and I could feel the water getting noticeably colder. We were definitely getting the last of the runoff from Wednesday’s snow.

Looking at the USGS water data, the Kinni has slowly risen but should definitely be fishable. For what it’s worth, there have been 3-5 cars parked at the Lower Kinni access by our house every day, so the fishing must be decent. Hopefully we don’t get too much rain tonight and the next couple days should be great fishing!

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We fished the Rush today from about 1:30 to 5:00. As soon as we reached the stream we saw fish rising everywhere. Aric tied on a parachute BWO, while I kept on my trusted hotspot pheasant tail and zebra midge rig. The first run produced three small trout, before I noticed two browns in the 15-17″ range rising in the next seam. I had Aric come take over with his dry fly, and he soon had 10 and 12″ browns to hand that took the dry downstream of the big guys. The big guys came to the surface to investigate his fly a handful of times, but unfortunately never committed. I decided to go after them with my nymph rig, and after a few drifts, my indicator plunged underwater. He put up a good fight as he navigated the boulders, but after a little more than five minutes, he was finally in the net.

Throughout the rest of the outing I caught 8-10 more, mostly small browns and brookies. Aric ended up with six, all on a parachute BWO. It was definitely nice to see some bigger fish on the surface!

We fished the Rush today from about 2:00 to 5:00. While I was tying on a new nymph rig, Aric called me downstream with a fish on. I hustled down and netted the 17″ brown, another new personal best for him. He soon caught another brown, about 12 inches, out of the same hole. Both were caught on an olive Frick’s Fix. He missed a couple more throughout the afternoon, but those were the only two to hand on the streamer.

I ended up catching five brookies and a brown, while Aric caught one brown, on a hotspot pheasant tail and olive zebra midge rig. The biggest was a 10″ brookie, while the rest were pretty small.

The blue wing olives were coming off while the sun was out and the fish were feeding heavily on the surface, but we never tied on a dry fly because pretty much all fish rising were under 10″, and most under 5″. Midges were out as well, but the fish seemed to be keying on the BWOs. We ran into another fisherman that said he had success with a Griffith’s Gnat and another small BWO pattern on the little guys.

I fished the Rush today from about 12:30 to 2:30. I started out nymphing and caught six small browns and brookies on a pheasant tail and zebra midge rig. I noticed there were quite a few fish rising to BWOs and midges, so I eventually switched to a size 18 Griffith’s Gnat. I caught four more small browns — my first dry fly action of the year — and missed a few more. All the fish rising were pretty small, other than a ~10 inch brown that refused my fly.

We fished the Rush River this morning from about 8:30 to 10:30. I caught three browns and a brookie while missing a couple more on a hot spot pheasant tail and zebra midge rig. Aric started off using an olive “Frick’s Fix” and caught a 16-inch brown — his biggest to date — in the first pool. He nymphed the next run and caught a 13-inch brown and a smaller brookie on a zebra midge.

There were quite a few fish rising to midges but we didn’t feel like re-rigging after having success nymphing. We caught trout in riffles, runs, and deep pools. Overall, a great morning on the Rush!

I fished the Rush today from about 1:30 to 4:30. The stream has really cleared up since earlier this week. I was able to net 8 fish and miss a handful more. My two biggest were 12 and 9-inch brookies, while the rest were under 6″. I missed one brown that was probably 13+ inches. The whole time I used a hotspot pheasant tail and ice cream cone midge rig, with probably 2/3 of the fish taking the midge. All were caught in runs in about 2-3 feet of water.

I talked to two others that had similar luck — lots of small fish on midges and other nymphs.

I fished the Rush today from about 11:00 to 2:00. The snow melt was in full force, as the water was high, cold, and cloudy. I was able to catch one small brown on a zebra midge pretty quickly. After a while without a bite, I decided to change it up and tie on a streamer. I rarely fish streamers and my goal for 2016 is to become a better streamer fisherman (and hopefully hook up with some big fish in the process). I ended up missing one fish and netting another — a nice 13″ brown — my first Rush fish ever on a streamer.

We fished the Rush today from about 10:00 to 12:30. Between the two of us we caught 12-15 browns and one brookie. Most were pretty small, but Aric was able to catch one about 11 or 12″. They were all on a hot spot pheasant tail and ice cream cone midge combo, with most hitting the midge. I also tried stripping a streamer through a few pools and moved a couple fish (including one about 15″), but couldn’t get any to commit. There were a lot of midges coming off, but we didn’t spot any rises.

It seemed like the others we talked to on the river were having success on small nymphs and midges as well. With this warmer weather, the fishing should only get better over the next few days.