Posted on July 21 2024
Drove home today with the cling peaches that the deer were good enough to leave me. Beat Jean home by no more than half an hour and she started from Ft Myers, Florida. Put in a load of wash and then walked down the hill to feed the trout and pull reeds from the bass pond. Was surprised to see dozens of baby bass now about four inches long soaking up the sun. The baby sunfish are going to be in trouble.
Chris - Every year the thermocline sets up in the reservoir sometime in the spring. The cold, clear water that flows down the WB comes from under the thermocline and with the increased flows under the FFMP release program, has resulted in a huge increase in the number of trout able to live in the WB. Unfortunately there is a finite amount of water under the thermocline and with the increased releases it is used up sooner, (usually around mid-August). You will see the bottom line temp start to clime and the silt that is held in suspension above the thermocline will begin to be sucked out into the river. The water level of the reservoir can vary depending on the amount of rain but it doesn't affect the water beneath the thermocline, (I've seen the reservoir at 90% with the thermocline depleted).
Butch - FYI - The west wind almost always goes down with the sun, don't quit too soon.
Jim N. - Not the fish.
Dennis - Some of what you described in your July 16th post were probably "indignant refusals".
Chris - Assuming you are wearing polaroid's, look into the water under the fly, you are missing a lot of activity which will let you know how close you are coming to really fooling the fish. If the sun is shining from behind you, you can see fish from a long way away.
I was there over the weekend. Hooked 7 fish. Landed 2. Fish took both duns and emergers. The largest fish, about 17 inches, was caught with a CDC emerger when I stopped the rod at the end of a drift and the fly sunk a bit.
Best moment: As a size 22 BWO was landing on the water on my forward cast, a dragon fly grabbed my fly in mid air and flown away for about 5/6 feet before dropping it on the water. I finished off the drift and stood there in amazement. The only way this experience could have gotten better is, if a fish grabbed the fly when the dragonfly dropped it on the water for its downriver drift.
Angler119’s-Thanks for the information. Always much appreciated. Dennis-Congrats. Nice fish and it sounds like a fun day. Ed
Going to hit the WB this late afternoon after a bit of painting on the deck. Expect to be indignantly refused, but won’t feel rejected.
Fished the upper WB yesterday and had a good day for me. I caught 4 fish 3 bows and 1brown. They were all between 15-17 in. I also had many indignant refusals. It was a sporadic hatch yesterday afternoon and the brief rain shower didn’t help I think. Hopefully found down again tomorrow. I will report.