Rush River

I was able to take friends Mike, Jason, and Jeff Steers out on the Rush today from about 10-4. They are just getting into fly fishing so I was happy to show them the ropes. Stream conditions had improved since last night, with water levels improving slightly and visibility around 2.5 feet.

Jeff got the day started with this beast of a sucker, easily the biggest I’ve seen caught on the Rush.

While I was demonstrating how to get a drag-free drift, I was able to catch two browns around 12-13 inches. Here is the bigger of the two.

Jason got on the board with this nice little brookie.

We kept working our way up the stream and picked off a couple fish in every run. Jason found a good seam in which he and Mike hooked into a couple fish. Here is Jason with his best of the day.

Jason helped Mike with the net job on his fish.

It was a team effort, so Jason got in the hero shot.

By the end of the day we had probably 30 fish to hand, with many more missed. Fish were caught on Euro Pheasant Tails, Pink Squirrels, Caddis Larva, Prince Nymphs, Frenchies, Ice Dub Pheasant Tails, Zebra Midges in black and olive, and WD-40s. We had a pretty good BWO hatch around 2:00, and Jason and I threw size 20 BWO dries for a little while, with each of us bringing one brookie to hand while missing a couple more.

Overall a great day on the water and a great opportunity to introduce the guys to fly fishing the Driftless Area!

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I decided to check out the Rush this evening after yesterday’s showers, and was greeted with high and stained, but definitely fishable, water. The clarity was about 1.5 feet. I thought it would be a great time to fish streamers, but after getting skunked on the first two or three runs, I opted to go with nymphs. My streamer skills yet again let me down.

With the off-color water, I went with a brown San Juan worm and a size 16 pink squirrel. I soon had a couple small browns and brookies to hand. I moved on to the next run, and on the first cast saw my indicator plunge underwater. The fish stayed deep, but eventually showed himself, and after a few swipes of the net, I finally landed him — a new personal best on the Rush at 18″ (unofficially — I still need to measure the rod).

I was able to pick off a few more fish on the next couple runs and had another nice one break me off before calling it a day. If anyone catches a fish carrying a San Juan worm and pink squirrel on the Rush, please send pics!

I ended up fishing from about 4:45 to 7:15, with about 5-7 fish to hand, with all but one on the pink squirrel. It was actually my first time using the squirrel this year; it’s good to know I can always fall back to that legendary Driftless fly. A few dinks rose sporadically throughout the evening, and there were caddis, BWOs, and midges in the air. If the water clears up it could make for some excellent dry fly fishing this weekend!

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I was back on the Rush this evening from about 4:00-6:30. The fishing was pretty slow, with about 12-15 fish to hand, but all under 10″. The clear skies definitely didn’t help. I had more success in shaded areas. I started out with a size 16 Euro pheasant tail and size 20 zebra midge, but after the first two runs switched to a size 16 ice dub pheasant tail and size 18 WD-40. The majority of the fish took the midge and WD-40.

Tons of midges and a couple BWOs were in the air, but there were only sporadic rises throughout the evening. Water was low and crystal clear.

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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.