September 5TH Double R Fishing Report "Transition"

Thursday, September 4, 2014:

Members (and other readers) I apologize for the one month drought in blog entries but the “mother board” of my old computer busted and it took me quite a while to purchase and set up my new lap top.  But, I’m back at it, whatever “it” may be.

FISHING REPORT:

We are now smack in the middle of the “transition” period of the season, i.e. between summer bugs and fall insects.  Many years that portends pretty marginal and unreliable fishing but that is not the case this season.  The trout are rising all over the field water of the Double R and up on The Pond, all day in the absence of wind.  With the great variance in weather one day to the next, we are experiencing an ever changing assortment of mayflies.  There also are 2 inch long grasshoppers next to the field water and some anglers are scoring on large black beetles in the wind.  But, the unanswered question is, “Where are the damsels?”   

Callibaetis has been my favorite hatch to fish these days.  Provided the wind does not get too strong, we have been experiencing Callibaetis action starting as early as 11:00 a.m.  Some days the action begins with a spinner flight followed by a hatch of Duns, some days the order is reversed, and some days they occur simultaneously.  The “naturals” currently are about a size 16.  One tip:  If you are fishing the Callibaetis dun hatch or spinner fall in “glass” conditions (which happens many days around noon for an hour until the wind picks up) one will have greater success with a pattern that is one size smaller, these days a size 18.  I have been using a size 18 Callibaetis Hatch Matcher followed by a size 16 Harrop Callibaetis No Hackle with a salmon colored body.  I’ve heard that Members have been scoring with Callibaetis Emergers. 

Blue Winged Olives (aka “Baetis”) can be a troublesome hatch to fish these days.  The “summer” Baetis have been on the field water for a month and most of us did well with them until the uncharacteristic overcast even rainy conditions of this August became a daily reality.  There are nearly 50 species within the Baetis family and those in the summer group thrive in the heat but hate the cold, rainy overcast weather which makes Fall Baetis explode.  Last night’s frost in Picabo may well be the “opening day” for our Fall Baetis, as I have observed dark gray spinners with brown bodies which are characteristic of some Fall Baetis species.  Tie or buy some spinners with this coloration (if you can find them) or drag out your favorite Rusty Spinner pattern, especially for those after-the-hatch “bank sippers.”

Mahogany Duns are my favorite fall insect and they have just started to appear on the water.  This bug will be the feature of a future blog entry.  They are a size 16.  They are most often seen in the quiet calm margins along the (true) bank or a patch of aquatic vegetation.  On the Ranch they are present both on the field water and on The Pond.  

“Pistachio” Duns.   Members have reported sightings of this unusual Baetis which we see each Fall on the field water, but generally not on The Pond.  You can use just about any dun pattern (Comparadun, Sparkle Dun, etc.) to imitate this unique mayfly, provided the body is made using Rene Harrop’s “Professional Dubbing” in his “Caddis Green” color (or something pretty close tending towards a chartreuse coloration).  Currently the “natural” is running around a size 18 but in the weeks to come the bug will appear in size 16.  

2nd annual “Stream Keeper’s Paella Party.”

Members of the Double R Ranch Fishing Club are invited to my annual Paella Party set to begin at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 13 at the Gazebo.  I will be serving my infamous Paella together with a tomato salad, sliced watermelon, Epi bread and a dessert of Grilled Peaches with Vanilla Ice Cream.  

If you live under a bridge and haven’t encountered Paella before, it is a spicy Spanish rice dish.  I load the rice up with boneless chicken thighs, spicy Italian sausage, shrimp, scallops, crawfish tails and mussels.  

Bring your own adult beverage, soft drink or bottled water.  

If you really feel that you MUST bring something else (always appreciated) an appetizer would be fine.

Come and celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of fine fall fishing.

July 21ST Double R Fishing Report

Monday, July 21, 2014:

FISHING REPORT:

In a nut shell, when the early morning breeze tapered off this morning the overcast sky prompted some small Baetis and a smattering of Tricos to hatch and fish were intently working the buffet.  Hardly any Members were out on the field water or The Pond, where fish were rising, too.  In both locations, Callibaetis duns and spinners seemed to interest the trout as well.  Even the large Brown trout seem to be readily taking small sparsely tied imitations off the surface.  Anglers have been scoring well on beetles and ants; if you can’t seem to successfully match the hatch on a given morning or afternoon, throw out a small terrestrial as the fish are clearly looking up.  Tomorrow should be as cool as today’s weather so look for the three mayflies to continue to hatch in about equal numbers until the 90 plus degree heat resumes on Wednesday, when the Tricos and Callibaetis should take over. 

ON “OLD” FISHING BUDDIES AND OLD “FLAMES”:

This week four college fraternity brothers will be visiting me in Picabo.  Back in the proverbial Day, we were inseparable partners in crime, partying and the pursuit of the female gender.  It was, after all, The Post Sixties.  The Five Musketeers dispersed to Oregon, California, Colorado and South Carolina.  This reunion will be the first time the five of us have all been together in one location since we graduated in 1974 and, given that it took us 40 years to work out the logistics, it probably will not happen again.   None of my fraternity brothers fly fish so I will likely spend most of the three days giving futile instruction; I usually don’t drink while fishing, but I may need to make an exception.

Like just about every serious fly angler, I have a number of men and women with whom I’ve fished for years.  One good buddy and I have fished together at least one a season for over 25 years in Oregon and on Silver Creek each September.  Another showed up yesterday (on his way to The Big Hole and the Missouri, bearing a case of his “Stream Keeper’s Reserve” Pinot Noir made from grapes he grows in the Willamette Valley.  Another buddy and I have fished together since I introduced him to The Deschutes on the one year anniversary of his remission from Lymphoma.  Then there is a woman friend who has been fly fishing Yellowstone National Park streams since the mid-70s, and whom I have turned into an expert soft hackle angler.   Of course, I fish with local anglers and those friends who make an annual pilgrimage to the hallowed waters of Silver Creek.  

A friend recently asked me what I would prefer, three days with an old fishing buddy or 72 hours with an Old Flame.  You would assume that an increasingly heavy set, graying one legged man now in his early sixties would jump at the chance to “reunite” with a love from his now distant youth, wouldn’t you?  Well, not exactly, as the passage of years has made me less tolerant and attentive to the vagaries of the female gender, and I am increasingly more difficult to tolerate than one can imagine.  The pleasures of the flesh may no longer be a panacea for seemingly irreconcilable differences in philosophy or each other’s outlook on Life.  One’s priorities change as the decades pass.  For more detail read (or re-read) Russell Chatham’s wonderful short story, “The Great Duck Misunderstanding” found in his Dark Waters collection.      

With long term fishing buddies, one is not reliving or grasping at past relationship high points.  You are back out on the water, sometimes new and sometimes familiar, both of you attempting to solve the Riddle of the Day.  Necessarily, there is something serious and engaging to talk about around the evening camp fire, over fine spirits and paced by a good cigar.  This debate does not inadvertently rub salt into old wounds which one would think should have healed by now.  The bond between you remains fresh and new; it is not being relived.

Doug Andres

Stream Keeper   

July 18TH Double R Fishing Report

Friday, July 18, 2014:

SIZE MATTERS:

Having fished Silver Creek for over 23 years I feel that as a general rule one’ ability to make a crafty presentation is much more important than fly pattern or the size of your offering, within limits.  What I mean by “within limits” is primarily that one needs to fish sparsely dressed flies and that getting within a couple of sizes of the natural insect on the water is close enough for government work.  When I see a trout “nose” my fly offering or otherwise get a “refusal” I quite frequently tie on a fly one size larger whereas “The Book” says to go down a size.  At the bench I have become less focused on tying a realistic imitation, these days I have become obsessed with incorporating “triggering” characteristics into new fly designs.  While I generally avoid casting other than in a downstream direction, as the years pass I am more prone to varying the presentation, such as by giving dry flies a twitch as it comes into the trout’s viewfinder, by applying a six inch “tug” to the soft hackled fly as it approaches the site of a subsurface swirl, etc.  Fundamentally, I am loath to change patterns or fly sizes which led to success the day before even if they spark no reaction today.  For me, it is akin to surrendering at The Alamo.

But, Thursday I felt a chink in the armor.  Thursday was a bit cooler than earlier in the week and there was significant cloud cover.  As I took this all in I was thinking Baetis.  There weren’t that many Trico or White Miller Caddis early morning and it took a rather long time for the trout to rise in force.  When the trout riot began in earnest it didn’t seem like the culprits were Tricos.  I don’t carry a seining net with me anymore; I had to start drawing the line somewhere.  But, it was pretty hard to not see the tiny bugs causing civil unrest as there were so many of them.  Yes, it was obviously a Blue Winged Olive hatch but the size of that mayfly was rather unusual this early in the trout season . . . . a bona fide size 24 and perhaps a size smaller.  Yet, I was stubborn and would not retire my green bodied size 20 Rene Harrop Trico No Hackle which had worked so well over the prior three days.  Hell, due to the tall white wing I could see the damn No Hackle when fishing a long line and the abdomen was green.  One would think it was close enough.  But, it wasn’t.  Admittedly I did land 3 fish.  But the No Hackle drifted over about a hundred other trout without being taken and I experienced a couple dozen refusals and three instances where the fly was “nosed.”  It was one of those days where prudence dictated that I “man up” and try a different fly pattern or size.  However, the Presentation Ego got involved and that’s all she wrote.  I promised myself that next time I will change flies, but I know that when push comes to shove I probably won’t make the adjustment.

Doug Andres

Stream Keeper

July 14TH Double R Fishing Report

Monday, July 14, 2014:

“Here today, gone tomorrow” was the story line Sunday morning.  Saturday’s strong Baetis hatch did not show up Sunday morning.  But, the Tricos were out in force making for some exceptional dry fly fishing most of the morning and the trout “podded up” in some stretches of the lower field water.  Your Stream Keeper once again caught all of his 8 fish on Rene Harrop’s olive bodied Trico No Hackle, in size 22.  Later I tried my usually trusty olive bodied Trico Hatch Matcher but only experienced refusals.  I came upon two “pigs” feeding consistently in a foot of water but could not hook them on the Hatch Matcher.  I noticed that the two Brutes were swirling subsurface rather than sipping duns or spinners on top so I switched to a #20 Harrop Trico Nymph but could not buy a fish.  My largest fish of the morning was a 17 inch bank sipping Brown trout.  I was off my game and “missed” too many fish today.  There were quite a few Callibaetis spinners and I probably should have cut the leader back and fished a Hen Winged Spinner or a Callibaetis Hatch Matcher.  Bottom line is that despite the absence of a Baetis it was the most exciting morning for me this season.  My Guest landed over 20 fish.  The Pond continues to fish well pretty much all day unless the wind blows.  On both The Pond and the field water we should soon be seeing a Damselfly hatch.  The early morning flights of White Miller Caddis have begun to wane.  

EFFECTS OF THE NEW DAM        

While admittedly your Stream Keeper is no fisheries biologist, I have to say that I attribute the consistently good fishing in the “field” section of the Double R Ranch to the fact that we have lowered the water temperature as much as 4 degrees by using 80 to 85percentof the bottom release capacity of the new Dam.  The winter’s Pond Project is working as designed, apparently worth the $500,000 cost, and may well turn out to be the savior of our trout during this low water year.  The other evening Nick Purdy took a swim in The Pond, armed with a thermometer.  The surface temperature in The Pond registered 69 degrees, but when Nick took a reading immediately below the new bottom release dam the reading was 59 degrees!   Quite a difference from the pre-project era where The Pond warmed the water at a rate of 22 degrees per mile!  I suspect that The Pond and the colder water below the new Dam (perhaps all the way down to Hwy 20) will become a refuge as we progress into August and the water on the Preserve and below Highway 20 increasingly heats up. 

Meanwhile, due to increasingly higher water temperatures on the Preserve, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) management and its biologists are currently discussing what form of temporary closure is necessary and appropriate.  One proposal is to prohibit fishing before 10:00 a.m.  We all are probably aware that Montana Fish & Game has traditionally taken the approach of allowing morning fishing and closing rivers after 2:00 p.m. during drought years.  I have heard that TNC’s rational for potentially prohibiting early morning fishing is that the culprit in fish kills and stressing is a dangerously low level of dissolved oxygen (cause by heat) rather than the warm temperatures themselves.  So, recognizing that dissolved oxygen is at its lowest level at 6:00 a.m. and that it takes several hours of morning sun for photosynthesis to replenish dissolved oxygen, an opening time of 10:00 a.m. is being considered.  Keep in mind that Silver Creek lacks the riffle water of your typical freestone river which aids in oxygenating the water; that might be one of the reasons why TNC is not just adopting MFG strategy wholesale.  If anyone has more information about this difference in opinion, please flag your Stream Keeper down, stop by my trailer, call me at 503.939.7657 or email me at dougandres.whenpigflies@gmail.com.

Doug Andres 

Stream Keeper

July 13TH Double R Fishing Report

Sunday, July 13, 2014:

There was quite a variety of mayflies hatching on the field section of the Double R Ranch on Saturday morning.  The reports I received included Tricos and Blue Winged Olives, depending on where you were fishing and what part of the morning you fished.  Both mayflies were small, size 20 to 22.  You can’t go wrong with a green bodied dry fly as it would imitate both the BWO and the female Trico which hatch in the morning.  Around 11:30 a.m. I was shooting the breeze with a Member and a half dozen Callibaetis duns accumulated on my dark shirt.  I thought about getting back in the creek but wimped out.  

Meanwhile, The Pond fished extremely well, initially with an early morning hatch of Tricos and later Callibaetis made their appearance.  

The lack of wind has certainly contributed to the great fishing opportunities.

We are beginning to experience some interesting evening fishing all over the Ranch.  The trout have been rising from behind my trailer all the way down into the Field.  Sure, the hatch is sparse, but the fish are taking what could be BWOs or hatching male Tricos, and you will have plenty of solitude.  

As the White Miller Caddis hatch wanes, be on the lookout for Damselflies.  

Doug Andres

Stream Keeper

July 6TH Double R Fishing Report

Sunday, July 6, 2014:

DOUBLE R RANCH - FISHING REPORT:  

FIELD WATER.  With this string of 90 plus degree days, it is getting increasingly important to hit the Double R Ranch water early.  By 6:30 each morning I have looked out my trailer door and observed hordes of White Miller Caddis hovering over the water and when I get out and drive the field water I see the same thing, all over the creek.  As I’ve said before, your Stream Keeper does not have much success fishing dry patterns for this huge Long Horned Caddis; instead, I consistently take fish by swimming a #14 Pheasant Tail soft hackle across the creek and under the caddis cloud, or by swinging the soft hackle directly in front of a working trout or likely holding spot.  A flash back or regular Pheasant Tail Nymph will work well, too.  My sense is that the trout are taking caddis on their way to emerging rather than taking adult caddis hovering or on the surface, with obvious exceptions.  The Tricos are also present early morning on the field water, both hatching green females and, later, black bodied spinners; small sparse Trico patterns are key.  Later in the morning and early afternoon we are seeing Tiny Blue Winged Olives on the field water, both Duns and Spinners in size 20 or 22; I like a Hatch Matcher fashioned from dun colored mallard flank feathers, brown tying thread and grizzly saddle hackle.  

THE POND.  The Pond continues to fish well every day.  So long as the wind is not blowing, you will see many rising fish.  The insect culprits can be Callibaetis duns or spinners, Blue Winged Olive duns or spinners, caddis or midges.  When you see fish clearing the water with their tails, start thinking caddis or, possibly, Callibaetis nymphs being followed by trout on the nymph’s way to the surface; tie on a Callibaetis nymph, let it sink and give it a jigging action.  If you see more of a sipping rise, try a dry midge pattern (e.g. Griffith’s Gnat) or a small BWO spinner.  Be on the lookout for larger trout feeding along the banks of the new islands.  This morning there were a lot of flying ants (black front body, cinnamon rear body and translucent wings, size 18) at the Gazebo (looking for roast pig?) and there is no reason why these flying ants will not make their way out onto The Pond, so be alert.  On Friday, I hooked (and lost) a brute of a trout while reeling in a small bead headed black flashy leech.  Be on the lookout for damsels as this hot weather goes on for the next week.  

Doug Andres

Stream Keeper

July 3RD Double R Fishing Report

Thursday, July 3, 2014:

We’re in the midst of a week of 90 plus degree weather and a forecast of relatively low wind conditions, a prescription for strong emergences of both Tricos, damsel flies and White Miller Caddis (which have been on flights both morning and evening) in the field water of the Double R Ranch.  Last night trout were rising and jumping clear of the water on The Pond until sunset; consider an evening fishing session.

FIVE WAYS TO AVOID HOOKING SILVER CREEK TROUT:

First, make sure you cast a short line.  Sure there are times when fish are so focused on feeding that you can literally fish right on top of them, but day in and day out on Silver Creek and other spring creeks you will catch more trout if you keep your distance from working fish or likely trout lies.  Wild trout have an innate fear of shadows created by the casting angler and of brightness caused by shiny reels and fishing equipment.  Cast as long a line as is within your abilities; practice and proper equipment will lengthen you cast.  

Second, make sure to fish a short leader.  While there are circumstances where the angler can “get away with” a 9 or 12 foot leader (such as when a “chop” is on the water or when fishing subsurface), Silver Creek veterans will advise you to fish a longer leader; again, to deep distance from the trout and to avoid alarming trout.  To a 2 foot butt section, your Stream Keeper generally attaches a 14 foot, 6X Trout Hunter leader, recently declared the best leader in the industry, which are available at the Picabo Angler fly shop.

Third, make sure you tie on a bushy, heavily hackled dry fly with a high profile.  The slow water of spring creeks affords trout an extended opportunity to differentiate natural insects from your fly offering.  Fly shops serving big western rivers sell heavily hackled and bulky flies designed to float in strong currents.  You will want to patronize fly shops in the immediate vicinity of Silver Creek where you can buy sparsely tied flies.  

Fourth, make sure you cast directly across or upstream of trout.  This is the best way to “line” fish and put trout down.  Experienced Silver Creek anglers cast both wet and dry flies downstream and in front of working fish to suspected trout lies.   Move your float tube to gain better position in relations to working trout.

Fifth, make sure that you “false cast” at least a half dozen times before launching your cast.  With fly floatant and flies constructed from appropriate materials, it is not necessary to “dry” your fly via false casting.  Repetitive false casting creates shadows and movement which only serves to spook fish who have evolved to be paranoid of predator birds.  Instead, let your fly drift directly downstream, pick up slack line with your free hand, pull the rod back and launch your cast in one movement.    

Each of these “no noes” will reduce your chances of consistently landing Silver Creek trout by 20 percent.

Doug Andres

Stream Keeper