April 12, 2015

Flow: 301

Water Temp: 44-52

After a great morning casting with the kids at the Tom Sawyer Fishing Derby -Cattail Crossing pond in P-West (thanks Jenean for putting on such a wonderful event and thanks Mark, Mike Tracy, and Norm for coming out to help) we got the news that the river had dropped from 460 to 301 cfs. Still running gin clear we knew we had to get some of that action. After burgers and sloppers at the Coyote Grille we headed upstream to find an empty river and trout feeding in every column. Nothing massive was landed but any day you can land trout on dries, streamers and nymphs is a good day. Suckers are starting to take over the trout redds and the rainbows are below their own beds feeding on sucker eggs. Zebra midges and olive hares’ ears did the trick for nymphs, swinging thin mints and woolly buggers is a kick in the head and the ubiquitous griffiths gnat sold the risers. Please continue to avoid the redds and explore every inch of structure, trout are everywhere the weather is beautiful and everybody’s home watching the masters.

Tight lines,

Ben

April 5, 2015
Flow: 310
Water Temp: 42-52
The tailwater is fishing incredible right now and while the flows stay below 600-650 trout are everywhere. BWO hatches are getting larger as the days warm. Those patterns along with black midges and eggs are getting the bite. I started using the corQ strike indicators and the natural cork is helping substantially. Life at trout bum paradise is awesome and I’m looking forward to a great summer. Book your trip now before the flows limit the fishable water.  I’ll leave you with the long awaited report Team Chuck and Duck, Trout Unlimited’s 2015 Frostbite Fish-Off Champions.
Have the merriest of Easters
Ben

Well its been a good stint since the weekend of the 2015 FFO and I think it's all finally sunk in. All in all it was just a fantastic day of family, friends, fun, fish, and unexpected twists of epic proportion!
This year was the third year Ben and I have fished the tournament as Team Chuck and Duck. For those of you that might not be familiar with the name, we named our team after my casting style. Especially when hucking slabs of mojo mud and rabbit.
Before I start reminiscing, I just want to thank everyone who is involved with putting on this awesome tournament. I don't know of too many events that are this much fun AND support such a good cause. Everyone at the tournament from the beat controllers to the meal volunteers did a fantastic job and they were all a pleasure to spend time with. Ben Wurster and Lou McCullough did an awesome job as our fearless leaders again this year. Always good catching up with those two. I've learned a lot from them over the past three years about fishing this river. Any time you can help someone catch and release a true gem of nature, you have done the world some good and I am indebted to you both!
I also want to thank all of the sponsors who stepped up. Every year there are a ton of cool prizes for the grab bags, raffle, biggest fish, and top teams. I can't remember how much Ben Wurster said the total amount of sponsor donations came out to this year but the amount of goodies up for grabs this year was incredible. Ben and I had no idea what we were in store for. On to tournament day!

Read the rest at: http://jamiesfishingjournal.blogspot.com/2015/02/2015-frostbite-fish-off.html