When is a river too high?

[aliferste]

Hi there,

I fish a small river that has small runs of Salmon and Sea Trout and a

generous amount of Brown Trout. Ive always done well fishing for brown trout

....kind of ....but today i was faced with a spate. Its been raining here

for the last couple of days in Glasgow so i knew the river would be a little

higher than normal but i gave it an extra while to make sure that it wasnt

too high.

Anyway, when i got to the river today it was a good couple of feet higher

and even though i have seen it muckier the water was a lot darker than

normal. Is there any point in fishing the fly in conditions such as these or

am i wasting my time. I usually catch a few brownies but today i caught

nothing.

When is it best to fish after the river has been higher than normal?

 

Aliferste

[Cranfield]

Commenting from my own experiences, I have never caught from a highly coloured river, using the fly.

 

My successes have been in direct relation to the water clarity.

The clearer it is, the better my catch.

 

This only applies to the fly.

I have done very well on coloured rivers with a worm, but thats a different matter.

[aliferste]

So it is better to wait until the river has totally returned to normal before starting to fish with the fly again?

 

When you fish with the worm do you trot it down the river or just plop into likely looking spots?

[Cranfield]

You don,t have to wait until its returned to "normal".

 

I said that my catches improved with the clarity of the water.

At the first sign of the water "fining", I would fish again.

 

When using the worm, I normally cast it across river and let it swing round. Move and repeat.

I will also drop it into any likely holes, if thats the only way of fishing them.

[Vagabond]

Would go along with Cranfield on this.

 

1/Very coloured water - Use worm - fish locate it by smell.

Water too thick for fish to see fly or spinner easily.

 

2/Water beginning to fine down, but still fair bit of colour. Use spinner - attracts fish by vibration/turbulence, easier for fish to see than fly.

 

3/Water fining down even more - fly becomes easier for fish to see.

 

4/ Water very clear. Fly best - fish may see spinner all too clearly and suss it for what it is.

 

Now that's an over-simplification, and of course there is some overlap - but the above strategy is a good starting point.

[tonyx5610]

I AGREE WITH MOST THINGS SAID ABOUT HIGH COLOURED WATER BUT ,MYSELF HAVE ALLWAYS FISHED A WORM INTO THE EDDIES/BACK CURRENTS WHERE I FIND THE FISH LIKE TO REST OUT OF THE MAIN CURRENT

[Steelheader69]

Actually, the conditions you're talking about happens most of the winter here in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Alot of stained water. The key is to use a bigger/puffier fly. You don't need BRIGHT, but bigger in profile. For steelhead, we'll use (and don't faint) a size 2/0-4/0 salmon hook wrapped with marabou and other materials. I've had much success hitting some of the back water (slower) and even some heavier water with these bigger flies. Have had days where other anglers have went home and landed some nice Steelhead.

 

I'd give you details on flies, but not sure how my flies would work over there. But I will say that I will also "plunk" eggs/shrimp in high water like this. Plunking is a form of using a heavy weight and letting the bait sit near the bottom until a fish comes along. In high water, the bait won't drift away, and stays in one place. But, since we're talking fly fishing I won't go into detail on techniques.

 

[ 01. July 2003, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: Steelheader69 ]

[Fishebid]

I dont agree to some point. I am a fly man and mainly fish for salmon i have found that a big waddignton 4-6" in yellows does catch salmon in coloured water and to a point can out fish worms. I have also done a lot of spinning in the past and have also found that when the water is high and brown a yellow Flying C with a silver blade does the job.

 

The best time is when the colour is just starting to run out the water but is not clear this is an excellent time for a salmon or sea trout.

 

I am not exactly sure what fish you are fishing for but for salmon and sea trout do not discount the fly.