If you want to catch these guys, you'll have to wait for a few weeks until either the small streams open up or they come back to the Missouri. This photo was taken at a buddy's house up on Little Wolf Creek. These fish are a spawning pair, looking for clean water and a good streambed to make reds.
It's that time of year where the rainbows are spawning so some of them are leaving the Missouri and heading up the tribs. It's interesting that rainbows will go up the Little Wolf Creek, which dumps into the Little Prickly Pear but they don't seem to be up higher on the Little Prickly Pear.
It is true that many rainbows leave the Missouri but I wouldn't use that as an excuse for tough fishing. Many still spawn in the main river and there are still a lot of browns, pre-spawners, and fall spawning rainbows to make up for the one's that have left. With 7 to 8 thousand fish per river mile, even if half of them leave that's still plenty of fish to target.
If you're having problems finding fish, I'd say it has more to do with weather and other variables then the lack of fish in the river. In the last couple weeks, we've had exceptional days and some tougher days that I'd say had more to do with high pressure and bright blue skies. The weather is pretty unstable this time of year, which can put fish into a funk. It usually only lasts for a day or two or even just a few hours so keep your head up; don't mail it in and eventually you'll get into them.
Try going a little deeper when the fishing gets tough. Changing up flies constantly probably isn't the solution. There are midges, BWO's, worms and scuds and not much else right now. If they aren't eating it, they just aren't hungry enough to move for it. You might have to dangle it right in front of their noses and keep it there, which means being exactly the right depth to run along the bottom without bumping too much. Six inches can make a big difference and that's not just what she said...
Keep 'em where they live...
No comments:
Post a Comment