The water was HIGH and off color on Saturday morning when I met a few clients for a trip on the South Branch…I was expecting difficult conditions but thought the off color would actually spread the fish out and improve our chances at some of the bigger fish…What I didn’t expect to find was 52 degree water in the AM…So the morning started out slow with high cold water…We did land one fat 18inch rainbow on a muddler minnow and lost a monster that hit on the swing but the fish used the high water to his advantage and was able to roll over the leader and swim away without feeling my net … By lunchtime the water remained off color but was dropping and we picked up another fat 18inch rainbow on a olive wooley bugger .. In the early afternoon we noticed a light but constant hatch of a size 12 to 14 yellow mayfly…At first I thought it was a sulfer, a little big and early but upon closer inspection and investigation, I believe it is a Light Cahill (maybe Les's Lemon Cahill) Note the two tails, barred wings and size…Please comment if you think otherwise…There were some sporadic rises to the emergers but couldn’t convince the fish with our imitations..
We tried nymphing but needed 3 split shots to get down and still had too fast of a drift…We picked up another 15 inch Bow on the wooley bugger…Finally toward mid-afternoon and the end of our trip, we saw a few rising fish and hooked a native brown on sulfer emerger fished on top..
Overall an enjoyable day in tough conditions but landed 3 beautiful, large fish including 2 of the largest trout the client ever caught, Lost a few Big Ones and had a few laughs...Maybe not what I was hoping for but a successful day in my book…Now I need to catch that hatch when the conditions are a little better…See you on the water!
