Pierce County

With highs in the 40s and the day off work, it was a great opportunity to make my first fly fishing outing of 2018. I decided to fish the solitude of a smaller area stream instead of the potential traffic on the more popular Kinni or Rush.

I ended up catching fourteen browns between 8-12 inches. Twelve were on the size 16 Euro Pheasant Tail and two on the 20 zebra midge. Fish were in both riffles and slower water, but I tended to catch more in the riffles where they were easier to approach without spooking. In the couple riffles where there was shelf ice, I had good luck drifting my nymph rig as close to it as possible.

With the low, clear water, make sure to approach holding areas as stealthily as possible. I’d often stand further back and extend my cast to keep from spooking fish. Where there’s one fish there are often a lot more this time of year, so spooking one meant spooking dozens. That also meant that if I caught one I could also pick off a couple more in a run.

These winter cold fronts can make for some dynamite fly fishing. It’s often best from about 10-2, when it’s warm enough for the fish to turn on, but before the snow melt brings the water temps back down.

My dad and I hit a smaller area stream tonight from about 6:30 to 9:00. We were happily surprised to see a slight stain on the water when we got there. We began the evening nymphing — myself with a Tungsten Torpedo and a Red and Black Midge, and dad with a green Copper John and a Zebra Midge.

We caught a few fish out of the first couple runs, but after noticing a couple rises, we switched it up to terrestrials. I went with a purple Hippie Stomper and he went a Stimulator. I ended up catching 8 or so browns on the Hippie while dad caught one on the Stimi, with both of us missing plenty more.

Terrestrials are a great option right now, especially on the smaller creeks. I didn’t cast to specific rises as much as just good holding areas near rocks, cut banks, and fallen trees, where the fish can quickly swoop out for an easy meal. We were too lazy to tie on droppers, but I imagine tying a small Pheasant Tail or Frenchie 18-24 inches below would make for a killer combo.

This cooler weather has made for some really pleasant summer fishing. Get out and take advantage of it while you can!

I fished a new-to-me section of an area stream this evening from about 6:00 to dark. The stream had a little stain on it from last night’s rains, which was a welcomed sight. I began the outing nymphing with a size 14 Tungten Torpedo jig variation with a size 18 Red and Black Midge. I quickly plucked five browns out of the first run, with one around 13″.

I worked upstream for another half-mile or so, with almost every riffle producing a couple fish. Once the sun began dropping below the horizon, I decided it was time to turn around and start walking back to the car. I tied on a black leech pattern and swung it through the pools and riffles on my way, and managed to bring two fish to hand, with a few follows and misses as well. There was also a pretty good sulphur hatch right at dusk with quite a few trout rising to them. It was just getting too dark for me to switch from my streamer rig.

With the hot weather we’re having, the fishing will be better in the mornings and evenings. The mosquitoes were pretty thick tonight too — remember that bug spray and/or a buff!

Beautiful weather and opening weekend of the catch and keep season brought the crowds out to the popular streams, so I hit a smaller area stream to find some solitude from about 3:30 to 6:00 pm. I began the outing with a black leech streamer I had success with at this spot before, but was unsuccessful this time around. After a couple runs, I turned to nymphing with a size 16 olive Euro pheasant tail and a size 18 standard Euro PT below. I seemed to be a tree magnet — this section has a lot of overhanging limbs — today, but when I did manage to get my flies in the water the fish seemed to be willing to eat. I ended up with seven or eight fish in the two or three runs before I hit my takeout point, including this one around 12″

Fish were also rising a bit to midges, but I didn’t bother tying one on. The stream was also low and crystal clear, making stealth very important as I approached good holding spots. A little rain would be a welcome sight!

Thinking the Kinni and Rush would be pretty busy, I chose a to fish smaller area stream from about 10:00am to 4:00pm. I began the day nymphing with my tried-and-true Euro pheasant tail and zebra midge, and caught around 25 browns with them.

There were quite a few fish rising to BWOs, but I failed to bring floatant, so I thought I’d try my luck with a foam hippy stomper. The fish didn’t seem to mind that I didn’t quite match the hatch!

I eventually got to a deeper pool and decided to tie on a streamer. On my first cast with the black rabbit strip leech, the biggest fish of the day slammed it!

I spent the last half-mile or so of the outing stripping the streamer through pools with a couple follows and a few misses, but none to hand. It was definitely nice to catch fish with nymphs, dries, and a streamer all in one day!

I fished a new-to-me section of an area stream today from about 3:00 to 5:30pm. The whole outing I used a Euro pheasant tail with a black zebra midge, and caught about a dozen browns with about half on each fly. There was also pretty consistent rising to BWOs throughout the afternoon, but I never switched it up and stuck with the nymph rig. It’s always fun to explore some new water, and I’ll probably be doing the same tomorrow as I’m sure all the regular spots will be packed!

 

Aric and I fished a smaller area stream yesterday afternoon from about 1:00 to 6:30pm. We fished a variety of nymphs with a zebra midge dropper, but the top performer was the Euro pheasant tail with a pink hot spot. The zebra midge caught its fair share as well. We caught about 40 fish between us, with quite a few over 12″ and one around 15-16″.

I caught one around 13″ on a streamer as well.

There was a good number of BWOs on the surface from about 2:00-4:00, with plenty of fish rising to them, but we stuck to fishing subsurface.

Overall, a great day on the water that gets us even more excited for spring!

With the Driftless Trout Anglers’ annual get-together (named “Troutstock”) this weekend, Driftless Area fly fishing legend Bryan “Trapper” Voldahl arrived early and invited me to join him on a smaller Pierce County stream this morning. We decided to fish a shaded stretch of stream because of the hot weather.

After nymphing for the first few minutes, we noticed a couple good rises and switched it up to dries. I tied on a variation of a parachute adams I’ve been tying lately and Trapper went with his favorite dry, the hippie stomper. It is basically a beetle attractor pattern.

After having a few swipes and misses on the adams, Trapper stepped up and quickly had one take the hippie. We continued up stream switching off and picking fish off with the hippie stomper. Most were about 8-inches — this stream should have plenty of nice-sized fish in a couple years. The biggest of the day was this 13-incher that just poked his nose up to sip the fly off the surface — one of the prettiest rises I’ve seen.

The second biggest was this 12-incher. We caught about 30 fish total from about 9:00 to 11:30 am, all on the hippie stomper. It’s always fun to watch fish take your fly off the surface! I will definitely be tying up a dozen hippie stompers in the near future.

We fished the same stretch as last weekend from about 1:00 to 5:30. We ended up catching about 25 fish between the two of us, and missed a bunch more. Many were between 11 and 13 inches. All fish but one were caught on a Euro pheasant tail and zebra midge rig, with about an even split between the two flies. The other fish was caught on a Frick’s Fix that Aric stripped through a riffle. We drifted the Fix a few more times throughout the day and had a few follows as well as a few that got away, but that was the only fish to hand on the streamer.

The water was very clear and fish were rising sporadically throughout the afternoon. BWO’s, midges, and a couple caddis were in the air.

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