Gaining Confidence Fishing "Less" Desirable Conditions

Another successful round of weekend trips in the books and a large shoutout to those who came out and fished hard this weekend! Conditions were less than favorable with an ever changing forecast throughout the week, we weren’t too sure what the weekend would hold. I began monitoring several weather models throughout the week, all in which were dynamic fluctuating from .65 inches of rain all the way up to 1.55 inches, quite the variation there. With the ever changing forecast it made it a little tougher to pinpoint an exact plan for the weekend. Fortunately both clients were relatively local and flexible with our game plans for the day. Late Friday night into Saturday morning we received .55 inches of rain. The Smith held its own through that initial round of rain and was fishable for Saturday’s group. Conditions were not ideal but fishable nonetheless. A slight stain with around 2ft of visibility was status quo for the day. Not quite as clear and “optimal” as we have been fishing in prior months with conditions we have grown accustomed to.

We decided to maintain the game plan for the day and get out and fish. A slow first hour into the trip we were hopeful heading into the bend. There are a few hubs I like to check in and spend a little time perusing our nymph rigs through, after a long search through the first 2, we received no love on our lines. The first two areas we began to pick apart were slower moving pools, long stretches of water. We then progressed into another stretch I have had more attention in as of late. We anchored up on a faster moving pool and after two drag free, clean drifts passed through we were locked in on a healthy Smith River Brown Trout. 

A sigh of relief from the boat that the fish could not only see but still feeding! From there we began to piece together a game plan for the day. The faster water was slightly less stained with the moving current, whereas the slower pools held more sediment and stain. The current really helped break up that stain, in turn that became our target water for the day. 

After a shift in our approach we moved down 100 yards to another section of similar water. Again, several drifts passed through to no avail, I stressed to my anglers the need to keep all of that fly line behind the indicator. As soon as the rig hit, I instructed my angler in the front to lift that 9ft rod up and let that rig taper out below it, drop the rod and feed it line, then more line. Once we loosened up that rig and had it free floating down stream it wasn’t 6-8 ft later we were down on something moving across the current. A delayed hookset but a good one despite the timing, low and across the current contrary to the direction of the fish. We're netting our second of the day soon after the first. This trend continued throughout the day and we found fish in many holding areas, we fished hard in all locations looking to break the trend we established early. We were able to free up some drifts and get tight to many fish throughout the day with our fair share of opportunities and “almosts”. 

Once we finished up it was typical procedures from there, back the boat in the garage, re-rig any botched leaders and prepare for Sunday's round. A majority of prepping for Sunday was watching weather models and seeing what showed up outside. Unfortunately that consisted of more rain, yet another round of .55-.65 inches of rain. Not ideal for the game plan leading into Sunday. I woke up early Sunday morning and checked water levels and clarity at several access points. Not looking good for our day, conditions weren't full on chocolate milk, but heading in that direction. Town creek, one of our largest sediment pushers, had really developed quite the push overnight and into the morning. That first round Friday night/Saturday morning had the ecosystems saturated and full, this next round really put it over its limit and clarity was out the window along with increasing levels. The water did begin to subside later that day before noon but the clarity did not follow suit as quickly. I met my group for the day at the originally scheduled launch, only to hit them with a last minute audible and head up stream. Another positive with the Smith being a tailwater coming from Philpott Lake is our accessibility to several miles of untainted water from auxiliary stream sediments. 

So we made the push up top and started at the base of the dam and worked a smaller stretch of water. We were accompanied with another boat as they seemed to be playing a similar plan as us, finding access to the best conditions of water as we could for the day. My anglers for the day were avid fisherman but mainly spin fishing and little to no experience on the fly… Game On! Our focus for the day was more instructional based and the transition between spin to fly gear. We launched first out the gates and I immediately pushed down stream to try and build space between us and the other boat. I had my anglers running their own spin gear in that time I was pushing and covering water as that would have been a lot easier to do on the move and at the pace we were rolling. We got downstream into a good holding ground and began to unveil the fly rod and unbutton those flies. We took it slow, working short roll casts and maintaining momentum in our cast just getting feel. Similar to yesterday, a slow first 45 minutes to an hour but soon shortly after a few drag free drifts in positive water, we were bobber down on another healthy fish! First contact and feel to a fish on the other end of the fly rod, several instructional commands with rod angle and stripping below that trigger finger we are in the net with our first fish of the day on the Fly! We continued to take our time and dissect that area, the first fish we found was a hold over rainbow and typically where you find one stocker, others will be near. This was a slower section of water, very beginner friendly in the sense that we had to mend the line and do things correctly but it was forgiving and slower paced in comparison to water we will be seeing downstream that is much faster and will require more continual mends. After leaving that first area both anglers had put fish in the net and we had knocked the dreaded stressful skunk out of the boat and we were fishing stress free and having fun! We progressed downstream from there as I elected to pass up some faster water with odd cross currents that are challenging to maintain a clean drift in without having your flies get blown out by the current. I sighted up this little back pool, probably 10 ft wide and 20 long, a slow pool off to the side created by rocks and a ledge with a little bit of current flowing over it, textbook holding water. I nosed the boat up to the ledge, knowing this would be a tight cast for two new fly fishing anglers. I instructed the angler in the front to lift the rod and merely dip his flies in the pool just to check in. He fed a nice clean drift but unfortunately received no love. By this point my angler in the back was not missing his opportunity and laid a clean roll cast to the far seam, throwing a healthy amount of line out from the back of the boat and freed up his flies, and right on cue with a good drift in positive water, he was yet again tight to another fish. Just as impressive as his roll cast was from the back of the boat in tight quarters so was his fish fighting skills as he maintained tension and hoisted this fish over the ledge and towards the rear of the boat where I could net the fish. Phenomenal work in tight quarters! As I unbuttoned his flies and got him back in the game his buddy up front had tightened down on another one! We ended up pulling several fish out of this back pocket, during that time I could see both anglers get more comfortable with the fly rod.

We stopped for a quick lunch break on an island and swapped more fishing stories and funny tales. As we broke for lunch I asked what would they like to pursue into these next few runs, Fly rod or Spin rod, to my surprise one angler was already reaching for the fly rod and the other was in agreement. We progressed downstream into two more very productive runs both anglers finding fish in the next two holes, several missed opportunities chalking back to line management which was the initial discussion and general theme of the day for majority of new to fly fishing anglers as that is quite contrary to other forms of fishing and unique to fly fishing. Even with that as the daunting task of the day both anglers did tremendous and progressed their skills throughout the day. 

We wrapped up by fishing a slower pool as I told them the key in this section is getting these flies off the boat and away from us, slowly allowing that rig to creep into fishy water. We have netted several in this section at this point with the take out in sight. I am watching my angler up front attempt to re cast his rig and it is just not working, I track his line and see his indicator is down, assuming it was probably down due to lack of attention to where our flies were heading and we have lodged them on some structure and I will be performing some scale of a recovery mission. He is stripping and trying to gain contact to his flies, as he is stripping in line I notice the indicator free up and then head back down, puzzled, I thought maybe he just found a leaf or stick. Nope, just stuck in the side of a brown trout's mouth! I am not sure I have seen a recast hold a small brown trout, must be good flies. We laughed and began sighting up our route to the takeout, both anglers were still casting away and looking for that next fish, so I back rowed and hit one last leaf line of current in pursuit for one more. Unfortunately no love on that infamous “last cast” but what a day on the water battling conditions and forming a plan B when our initial plan was squandered due to factors outside of our control. Such a cool transition to see anglers who have fished the Smith their whole life via traditional spin gear, but curious about fly fishing and wanting to learn the pursuit on the fly!  This trip was meant to be more of a hybrid trip throwing spin rods and just becoming familiar with the fly rods. By the end of the trip both anglers were favoring the fly rod along with our numbers and size coming from the Fly rods. Truly impressive work and first attempts on the fly!

Looking forward into our fall fishing weekend availabilities I have remaining:

Oct. 11, 12, 19, 26

Nov. 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30.

If interested in any of those dates, reach out via text, call, email, or web booking.

276-732-0517

luckystripsflyco@gmail.com

www.luckystripsflyco.com