Blue River 6-7 Mar Trip Report
Mar 9, 2015 11:31:39 GMT -6
Aaron, Prosperflyfisher, and 2 more like this
Post by mirvc17 on Mar 9, 2015 11:31:39 GMT -6
Blue River, OK 6-7 Mar 2015
WX: Sunny and cool
Water temp: 44F
Hatches: Midges, everywhere. And one (yes only one) adult BWO (presumably) was flying by me...
I arrived at the Blue around 12:15 and was happily greeted by Bary. He helped me set up camp and wished me luck on the river. He told me there had been a double stocking of fish--good for us. I fished just south of Hughes Crossing, starting with the "sand bar" area.
While midges were all over the surface, no fish were rising. I think I saw maybe 3 fish rise the whole afternoon. Despite the midges, I decided to sling a single size 14 TH synthetic hare's ear + partridge soft hackle jig under an indicator. Two fish were caught. I moved downstream to the tail of a pool prior to the riffles. 5 more fish were landed in less than 10 minutes using high sticking/Czech nymphing techniques. I then moved downstream about 20 yards into the riffles and seams. I removed the size 14 and went with a heavier size 12 w/ a 3.5mm TH bead. While I was too lazy to change my leader to one with a sighter, I was able to high stick quite effectively, bring more rainbows to hand with the same pattern. Suddenly, I hooked into something bigger that peeled off some line and gave me a much bigger bend in the rod. Unfortunately after a minute or two, the fish threw the hook and was gone--bummer! I resharped my hook back to Hanak's wickedly sharp standards.
Once again moving downstream I tried a very tight spot between a couple of the 'islands' prior to the bend in the river. After success here, I moved back up stream to the riffles. Up to this point, most of the fish I caught were 10-12" with one 13"--a stunningly handsome male with awesome color and a killer kipe, despite his size. No picture of him though. Before getting ready to call it, I moved back up stream to see if I could land a couple more, which I did.
Back at the camp site, I met Walker and Corbin. I remembered Walker somewhat from last year's mystery fly event. They were getting ready to go fish and I asked if I could join them. After washing my throat with a beer we headed out. Four more 'bows were brought to the net with my personal best of 24 fish in 5 hrs. What an awesome day after all the slow days at Medicine Park and rough weather the last month.
The mystery fly event on Saturday was fantastic. The fly was a size 18, orange Crackleback. I'd never fished this fly before, but you can get "down and dirty" with weight, fish it dry or swing it. Like most, I opted fish it with some split shot and an indicator on 5X tippet. My partner Shannon was a little older
than I am so we took it easy, fishing the areas I fished on Friday. I wound up with 8 fish, which was pretty decent. Walker wound up winning catching 21 fish near one of the stocker barrels upstream in the south wilderness. We went there after the comp and the fish were just stacked in there--fish on every other cast. I think I would have done quite well there.
All in all, both days were awesome, the food was phenomenal and the people friendly.
WX: Sunny and cool
Water temp: 44F
Hatches: Midges, everywhere. And one (yes only one) adult BWO (presumably) was flying by me...
I arrived at the Blue around 12:15 and was happily greeted by Bary. He helped me set up camp and wished me luck on the river. He told me there had been a double stocking of fish--good for us. I fished just south of Hughes Crossing, starting with the "sand bar" area.
While midges were all over the surface, no fish were rising. I think I saw maybe 3 fish rise the whole afternoon. Despite the midges, I decided to sling a single size 14 TH synthetic hare's ear + partridge soft hackle jig under an indicator. Two fish were caught. I moved downstream to the tail of a pool prior to the riffles. 5 more fish were landed in less than 10 minutes using high sticking/Czech nymphing techniques. I then moved downstream about 20 yards into the riffles and seams. I removed the size 14 and went with a heavier size 12 w/ a 3.5mm TH bead. While I was too lazy to change my leader to one with a sighter, I was able to high stick quite effectively, bring more rainbows to hand with the same pattern. Suddenly, I hooked into something bigger that peeled off some line and gave me a much bigger bend in the rod. Unfortunately after a minute or two, the fish threw the hook and was gone--bummer! I resharped my hook back to Hanak's wickedly sharp standards.
Once again moving downstream I tried a very tight spot between a couple of the 'islands' prior to the bend in the river. After success here, I moved back up stream to the riffles. Up to this point, most of the fish I caught were 10-12" with one 13"--a stunningly handsome male with awesome color and a killer kipe, despite his size. No picture of him though. Before getting ready to call it, I moved back up stream to see if I could land a couple more, which I did.
Back at the camp site, I met Walker and Corbin. I remembered Walker somewhat from last year's mystery fly event. They were getting ready to go fish and I asked if I could join them. After washing my throat with a beer we headed out. Four more 'bows were brought to the net with my personal best of 24 fish in 5 hrs. What an awesome day after all the slow days at Medicine Park and rough weather the last month.
The mystery fly event on Saturday was fantastic. The fly was a size 18, orange Crackleback. I'd never fished this fly before, but you can get "down and dirty" with weight, fish it dry or swing it. Like most, I opted fish it with some split shot and an indicator on 5X tippet. My partner Shannon was a little older
than I am so we took it easy, fishing the areas I fished on Friday. I wound up with 8 fish, which was pretty decent. Walker wound up winning catching 21 fish near one of the stocker barrels upstream in the south wilderness. We went there after the comp and the fish were just stacked in there--fish on every other cast. I think I would have done quite well there.All in all, both days were awesome, the food was phenomenal and the people friendly.
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