The flows on the river have been moving up and down a bit this past week and right now it’s running at about 117. Most anglers we’ve been talking to are getting into some fish down there but it’s overall been pretty tough with anglers only reporting around 1 to 3 or so fish for a half day of fishing. We still haven’t had much good news on streamers but the successful anglers we’ve spoken with have been getting some fish on nymphs and even a few on dries. We did hhave a couple fish reported on caddis nymphs so that’s pretty good news. It sounds like the stretch below the bridge has livened up this past week so those fish are probably liking some of that good riffle water down there. A few patterns to try include: blue dun, para adams, blue wing olive, chubby chernobyl, stimulator, Fox’s poopah, LaFontains deep sparkle emerger, z-wing caddis, psycho prince, perdigon nymph, silver streak, rainbow warrior, dark lord.

 

The reports we got back from the ranch were much like the Cali side of the river, it was hard work but there were some nice fish hooked up down there. It sounds like the numbers aren’t real high but the quality is really good. Nymphing has been the best on the ranch as well with just a few fish being reported on dries and still none on streamers.

 

The fishing on the Reservoir toughened up a bit this week with the most successful an anglers reporting 2 or 3 fish per half day. It sounds like the best method for success has been bait fishing from a boat over near Rainbow Point, the trolling is still producing some nice fish but not as many as the bait anglers. We talked to a couple fly anglers who did some streamer stripping down near the dam with no success. There’s been a fair number of browns being caught on the Res, most in the 1.5 to 2.5 lb range as well as some nice perch up to around 2.5 pounds. Each day we’re seeing some good rainbows up to around 5 pounds being caught as well. It sounds like the shore fishing has slowed up quite a bit with just a few fish here and there making a showing.

 

We’ve had a couple reports from Kirman this past week that were pretty good, at least considering how it’s been the last few years. It sounds like there’s a decent number of anglers making the trek up there but unfortunately they often don’t pass on any information to us. Anyway, I was personally up there last Monday and was able to hook-up 7 fish and land 4 in about 2 hours of fishing before the wind picked up too much. All the fish I landed were brookies and all of them took a small black leech pattern, stripped very slow. The fish I landed were all about 17 or 18 inches with one nice male taping about 19. This isn’t the type ofday we would expect 25 years ago but it was well worth the trip! I saw a decent number of rises while I was there and I feel like there’s a pretty good population of fish in there right now. I didn’t catch any cutts, maybe next time.

 

As with Bridgeport, the Twins have toughened up a little bit lately, sometimes with the warmer weather fish seek deeper water and are a little tougher to find. That being said, there were still decent numbers of nice fish being caught on both lakes, just not some of the wild action we always hope for. There has been some good fish still being caught trolling with Rapalas, speedy shiners and needlefish as well as bait fishing with pinched crawlers, mice tails and inflated crawlers. Some fish are being caught from the shore as well.

 

The West is still pretty high and off color, when the run-off is over the fishing up there should start getting much better.

 

I hear the Virginias are ice free now and we’ve started to hear about some good numbers of smaller rainbows and brookies being caught up there, we’ve also had some holdover BFEF tagged fish comeing in most days that are in the 3 to 5 pound range. Power bait, pinched crawlers, mice tails and inflated crawlers have been doing it for the bait anglers and Thomas Bouyants, Panther Martins and Sierra Slammers have been doing well for the lure anglers. Haven’t heard much from the fly anglers yet but I’d expect wooly buggers, seal buggers, mini leeches, soft hackles and pheasant tails all to do well up there this time of the year.

 

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RANDOM INFORMATION: Memorial weekend is coming up fast, always a good time in the Bridgeport area. The weather has been getting better and better each week lately so don’t forget your sunscreen!