Grey Reef Flows: 1250cfs

Miracle Mile Flows: 1000cfs

 

Despite reports that suggest slow fishing Grey Reef and Miracle Mile are producing all day long and in pretty high fashion. Water temps are nowhere near critical high levels but you should take temps occasionally just to be safe. Negative reports will come from the deep dredging crowd those not willing to row hard or recognize the need to change their approach. This time of year requires a different angle and if you focus on the long slow tailouts things won’t be terribly productive.

Good dry fly in the AM on Trico spinners and PM on caddis…very good. Nymphing has been best with a 4-6′ rig with Pine Squirrel Leaches, San Juan Worms, beady leaches, Scuds, PMDs(yes they are still out), caddis, sunken tricos and crawdad paterns. It certainly isn’t limited to that. Focusing on tight riffles and fast water. This is the time of year that the rivers have the most “grass” and as the water comes down next week grass to water ratio will tip further to the grass side. Is it the end of the world at Grey Reef? Absolutely not. It creates opportunities and those willing to adapt will be rewarded.

Floating and suspended vegetation can be an issue, but again adapting and recognizing that the same thing happens year after year and there are simple ways of dealing with it. The whole river is not full of debris. IF and when we get floating debris it typically concentrates in a faster seam and is unloaded in the big eddies and tailouts at the end of faster runs…DON’T FISH THERE! Row a few strokes away and fish in areas that are not weedy. Sounds simple. Sometimes you might need to just row for 10 minutes and you will get to a spot that it seems the weeds have just disappeared for the rest of the day. Weird but true and our crew knows where these mysterious things happen. Adapting and recognizing creates a great day on the water any time of the year. Negative reports related to the grass are directly pointed at a few simple angler errors for most part. The fish are still there and eating like always. Question is, how are you going to solve a simple problem? Lackadaisical technique does not mix well with this time of year. Don’t strip your nymph rig across the current or the obvious can happen. Learn to quickly clean your rig if you do pick up debris and don’t cast into floating grass. DO NOT quit setting the hook because you “know” that you have hooked weeds. This is the surest way to sabotage your day. One testament we have for fishing this time of year is the amount of returning guests year after year. They would never return if the situation were anywhere near as tough as some would have you believe.

Miracle Mile is fishing well and although it has fewer issues with grass will likely produce fewer fish than Grey Reef. Fremont is still pretty ugly but some are doing well there.