The populations of 12-16 inch rainbows have increased quite a bit since my last report. With water flows increasing from snow melt on these tributaries to Crowley we are seeing some decent pods staging up for the spawn recently. There is some off colored water in the lower sections, very skinny conditions on the upper beats as the ranchers are diverting some water to irrigate the pastures.

The short water bows are S P double O KY "SPOOKY"!!! You need to be a damn Ninja to get near them. Try an upstream presentation and stack mend to drift your flies down into the short water holes and lays. Dry dropper bead head nymph combos are a good call, SJ worms and weighted streamers fished with a floating line will get you takes.

These are the remaining fertile "diploid" trout this area will see from now on. Whatever your opinions on this issue keep in mind their fry will be the last of the wild trout in Crowley. Please keep this in mind when handling fish caught on redds.

Pictured Above: This colorful rainbow is what you can expect on average for the tribs of Crowley
Photo #1: McGee Creek. This section typically has 5-6 feet water this time of year.
Photo #2: For those of you who know Crowley, this is the fence line that I have had my fish magnet anchored at in high water years. It is 1/4 mile above the current water level.