This wonderful shot of rain the past few days has cooled the river off and stabilized the water temps a bit, finally. With more overcast days in the forecast and more scattered showers after the weekend the river is moving into prime conditions for Autumn Fishing. Temps are now staying below 60 degrees in the upper river which is what we have been waiting for. Make sure your fly box is well stocked with a plethora of fall patterns. Mayflies will be a key insect for some of the larger fish. Light Cahills, Mahogany Duns, and BWOs will be insects that fish key in on when they hatch during these wet and cloudy days. Look for fish working the service and have both dries and emerger patterns for all three species. Put your technical casting hat on too as fish need perfect presentation and patience when fishing these little flies. October Caddis, Silver Sedge, and Spotted Sedge hatches will take over the evenings so have dries, and both deep and emerger pupa patterns for all three. Key into the time of day when fish eat pre hatch, hatch, and post hatch to produce the best results. Fish deep pupas along the bottom of the river pre hatch, then fish emerger pupas when you see fish on the rise but no bugs, then switch to dries as the light fades and fish become more willing to eat full on surface flies. Within a matter of a half hour to 45 minutes an angler can hook large quantities of fish if you hit the hatch at the right time getting all three stages. Fish may also key into one type of the caddis hatch so be prepared to fish only one stage. Crane flies will also be on the menu and having dead drifting and skating patterns will produce the best results. Target areas that look fishy even if you dont see fish coming up. Fish will feed on the crane if the opportunity presents itself as the insects will fly and dance on the water surface throughout the day but focus your crane efforts when nothing else is happening or during the noonish time of the day. The crane is a great pattern when you arent seeing fish rise and will usually entice fish to come up. San Juan, dont forget about the well known and well used patterns of worms especially after rains and influxes and drops in water levels. Even a few CFS can push more worms into the water and fish will key in on them. Tie or buy them in hot pink, cream, peach, red, and even blue. EGGS! Make sure you have an assortment of salmon egg patterns to drift behind Redds. Make sure to not disturb spawning salmon and give them a wide berth. Trout will hang out below where the salmon congregate in the upper stretches and dead drifting and swinging an egg pattern as secondary or primary fly on the nymph stick can produce some epic fish of both species. Also tie up some flesh flies, Alaska style with rabbit strips in grey and whites for when the salmon are done doing their thing. Large trout will feed on chunks of decaying salmon and some really big fish can be hooked into fishing these patterns. Especially after the sockeye run in Cooper Lake, big browns love them some chunky Sockeye Burgers. Also a good time to see wildlife on the river and lakes as bear, eagles, raccoon, foxes, wolves, coyotes, and other carnivores will come down to feed on the remains of the sea faring fish. I remember seeing lots of wolf sign two years ago on the Teanaway just before it closed. For an additional treat take a drive up the Teanaway and Upper Cle Elum areas near Fish Lake to have a chance to see a Bull Trout. They or course cannot be fished for but I remember a few instances chasing cutthroat with a 3WT in the upper stretches and seeing the big orange bellied beasts spawning in the upper drainages. A real treat to see this native and once well populated species try and keep a foothold in the area. Keep in mind to tie smolt patterns for Sockeye and Chinook salmon this winter as late winter and early spring is the best time to fish streamers after all these eggs hatch. Anglers have a lot of options to catch a lot of fish in a myriad of ways. Makes fishing super fun this time of year as the trout will dictate what you need to throw and when you get all the pieces to come together and hook up it is that much more rewarding. Ill be on the river this week as much as possible to get a detailed report of what patterns and what places are fishing well. Floating the upper stretches can be really fun but plan on spending time working areas for long periods of time and skipping a lot of holes and keying in on good producing spots. Walk and wading is very efficient as well. Hit me up as I have free spots in my boat and am always open to a buddy tagging along for a walk and wade.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 19:12:42 +0000