High Sun, Higher Water

I'm not sure what the USGS is trying to do with the Mo but in the last two weeks flows went from around 11,000 cfs down to 5100 cfs and now back up to 11,100. That, along with high sun can make for some pretty tough fishing. However, I bet Jim here would beg to differ.

People come to the Missouri with a lot of different expectations and definitions of what a good day is. Some just want to wreck 'em, boating 20 or 30 fish anyway they can and that's cool and we can do that by dredging the bottom with nymphs and doing row-arounds. For myself, I'm a sucker for big takes on streamers and I'd just as soon chuck big buggers all day moving fish and catching a few big ones. For Jim and his wife Jean, catching fish on dries is the way to go. Knowing it would be tough we set out to do that on Tuesday.

We did hit some fish early on top as well as nymphed up a couple while going from spot to spot that I thought might have some rising fish. At around noon we hit a shaded bank with all sorts of brush hanging down. The sun had killed off a lot of the PMD's and caddis were fairly steady. As we drifted down the bank we spotted a nose coming up about 6 inches off the bank under an Alder bush. With the sun the way it was we figured we wouldn't get too close to it on the upstream side before it busted us. However, the wind was howling straight downstream making the cast back up nearly impossible. We took our chance with the cast and parked the boat about 50 or 60 feet downstream. We crept the boat back upstream to the fish coming up and once we got about 15 feet away, we stopped and Jim started to cast.

Armed with a Blooms parachute caddis and a spent spinner, Jim's first cast hung up in the bush. With a little tug the flies dropped in the water and floated back down to the boat. The second cast was just a bit outside and the as it passed the pocket, the trout gulped another fly. The third cast hit the bush again but on the ensuing cast, Jim hit the pocket.

The flies dropped almost right on top of where the fish's nose had been poking up through the film. "That's the one," I thought and before the flies drifted 4 inches the nose came up and sucked the spinner down.

"There it is!" I yelled and Jim gently lifted his rod and the line tightened.

As the fish rolled past us I saw it was a monster and jumped into the boat. I pulled the anchor up and chased the fish downstream into some soft water where we landed it. It measured just over 22 inches; by far the best fish on dries so far this year. Great job Jim.

Keep 'em where they live y'all.