I moved down river across from the Scout Camp and there were no fish feeding, but I decided to work the riffle anyway.  I landed 2 large fish there on a PMD Searcher #14, and both of them ate the bug out of nowhere.  I never saw them rise or ever show themselves, they simply rose up and took.  That’s been a hard thing to get the Owyhee fish to do lately.

I moved again to a stretch of water below the first bridge on a boulder-strewn edge, and immediately I see large Callibaetis floating on the surface.  They weren’t in large numbers and occasionally I’d hear or see fish bang them at the surface.   I changed flies to a Tan Searcher #16, which looked exactly like the bug on the surface.  I had two perfect targets that rose in casting distance and I caught both of them on the Searcher and hooked another fish I never saw but lost him in the fight.  No more targets appeared and I couldn’t raise any other fish so I walked up along the grassy edge to another run.  There were multitudes of bugs in the grass and willows, but the predominant bug was caddis.

I tied on a Peacock Caddis #16 to fish the faster water ahead of me.  In a giant boulder patch, there was a small pod of fish feeding on the road side of the river.  They were on an inner gentle riffle right against the bank.  In order to reach the fish, I had to wade across heavy current and position in the middle of the river to make a delivery.  I waited for a fish to rise and create a target, and it didn’t take long.  A big old bruiser peaked his nose up and immediately I served the fly just ahead of him.  I lost sight of the fly in the shade of the afternoon, but I saw a break in the water close to the fly.  I set the hook and it was the same fish I’d targeted.  I’d hooked the fish but it would be a miracle if I landed him.  He was in the center of an obstacle course of boulders and he was a very large fish that I couldn’t hold if he decided to loop me around one of the many boulders.

I got lucky and wrenched him out of the boulder patch, but he immediately hit the main current and bolted down river toward more large boulders.  I waded out of the middle of the river to the bank and chased the fish that was already in my backing.  I got my fly line back in my reel, but I had reached a point where I could no longer chase the fish because of the deep water on the edge.  That meant I’d have to fight this fish up through heavy current back to my location.  Ten minutes later after dealing with a heavy fish, fast current, and boulder encounters, I finally landed the fish.  He was a big old guy around 2 feet long and heavy.  You know one of these days, I’ll actually think about what the heck I’m going to do if the fish eats my bug, but I’m a slow learner—all about hooking a fish and worry about landing him after that.

I caught one more fish in the same place I hooked the large fish and called it a day.  I ended up landing 8 fish on four different flies.

Flies that caught fish:

1)      Caddidge #22

2)      Tan Searcher #16

3)      PMD Searcher #14

4)      Peacock Caddis #16

I caught fish on five different flies and worked a lot of water to do it. There was one nice run on a slow moving deep edge where I encountered about a dozen fish feeding along a 100 yards of water. There were an abundance of midges on the surface, so I tied on a Caddidge #22 and began to work the edge. By the time I had worked through the run, I had landed eight fish.

I then fished a side channel, and the “Sallies” were all over the area. They were in the trees, the willows, and continuously in the air, but almost none of them were reaching the surface of the water. I changed to an Empress Sally and caught one fish. Then I changed to a PMD Searcher and caught one large fish. I changed to an Adams Caddis and caught two fish. In the late evening when you would anticipate the caddis to settle on the water, the fishing completely quit and there were no targets to address. I skated an Emperor Caddis in the riffles and picked up another couple of fish.

All in all, it was a wonderful day on the river, but you had to catch fish the old fashion way…you had to earn them. Hey Paul, I didn’t catch any fish after we parted ways; in fact I never saw one feeding fish, so I headed home.

Flies that caught fish:

Adams Caddis #18
Emperor Caddis Black #20
Empress Sally #18
PMD Searcher #16
Caddidge #22

The good news was every fish that poked its head above the water whether he was close to the edge or in mid river and I saw him, I caught that fish on a small caddis.  The bad news was there were few fish that poked their heads up.  When there were no targets to shoot a fly at, trying to lure the fish to the surface was tough.  I had fished last Saturday and had a pretty fun day skating a caddis and catching good numbers and size of fish.  Skating the fly yesterday only produced 2 fish, and they were not the large variety.

The caddis hatches are coming on, but the fish haven’t begun keying on them at the surface in large numbers.  There will be a day coming soon when you arrive at the river and there will be targets all over the surface.  I predict that day will come after this little cold spell and the temperature jumps back up to the 70’s and 80’s.

Anyway, it wasn’t a bad day on the river.  I got started late and still caught 16 fish.  There were some pretty big fish in the mix.

Flies that caught fish:

1)      Emperor Caddis Green #20

2)      Adams Caddis Peacock #14 (Skater)

3)      Bare Belly Caddis Green #20 & #18

4)      Peacock Caddis #20 (Tester Fly)

I had started the day thinking that a large beetle size #10 3XL fished on the edges would catch some fish.  I was wrong; after working one whole stretch of water, not a single fish came to the hook.  Even though I’ve seen numerous large beetles on the “O” this year, my tie-on bug was a no show.

I moved up river to a section of water just above the cliffs.  I was encouraged that no one was fishing the run and immediately I see a few fish rising.  I tied on a Bare Belly Caddis Green size #20 and entered the river at the bottom of the run.  There were BWO’s on the surface, but the fish were not keying on them so I continued to work the caddis.  There was a large “Brownie” feeding in a foam line right at the edge of the current, so I got to serve a bug to the first fish of the day.  First cast he eats the caddis, and in a few minutes a 20+ inch “Brownie”  is in the net.

I dried the caddis and slowly moved up to where another fish was feeding and I served the fly to him.  He false took so I didn’t return a cast immediately; instead I worked the current for a couple of minutes then put the fly over the fish again.  He false took again and I could never get him to come up again.  I saw another fish just above him; and on the first delivery, I hook that fish and land him.  I then hook another fish in faster water, but I lose him, all the while a few sporadic fish are banging at the surface which would indicate a caddis bite.

I upsize the Bare Belly to an #18 as I approached the heavier riffle at the top of the run and I’m beginning to see a lot of caddis against the shoreline and in the willows.  I waded to mid-river to get a better angle to serve to a soft deep edge strewn with boulders and I see 3 fish feeding just on the edge of the current.  One of them is a big, dark-colored giant feeding in the middle of the pod.  I zinged the fly about 6 inches ahead of him, mended up river, and waited.  Just before the current grabbed the belly of my line, I see his big old head rise up and eat my caddis.  After a battle that started at the top end of the run and ended up at the bottom of the run on the other side of the river, I finally netted the fish.  Wow, he was a big old guy, probably 23 inches and in good health.  I shot some photos and watched him melt into the brackish water.

I moved back to the top of the run and as I watched the surface, occasionally I’d see caddis being blown across the riffle.  The light bulb came on.  That’s what those occasional bangs at the surface were I’d been hearing for the last hour and a half.  Fish were chasing down the skittering caddis and aggressively feeding on them.  I immediately changed flies to a #14 Peacock Caddis, went to the top of the run and began serving the fly down stream at a quarter angle.  It’s a technique I use often in the heart of the summer after the sun goes down, but in early spring you would normally target fish and dead drift your caddis to a fish’s nose.

It didn’t take long for the action to begin.  On about the 5^th cast I see my fly skating across the river and bang, a “Brownie” eats it.  I land him and immediately hook another fish, then another.  Two different fish jumped completely out of the water with my hook in its mouth and I hooked and landed them both.  The fishing went maniac for the next hour, and I was treated to some really cool takes.  The fish would miss the hook or false take on occasions, but they kept coming.  At one point I had swung the fly directly below me over a boulder, I raised my rod and slowly skittered the fly up stream.  When the fly was 15 feet below me, a big “Brownie” ate the bug coming straight at me.  I can see down his throat so far that I thought I saw his anus.

Some of the fish I was hooking were of the smaller variety in the 12-15 inch range, but some of them were large also.  By the time I reached the bottom of the run, I netted 17 fish and every one of them were caught using a skated fly.

It’s always a good day when you have the opportunity to fish; but when you use some off-the-wall techniques that you rarely try in spring and it works, that’s a bonus.

Flies that caught fish

1. Bare Belly Caddis #20, #18
2. Peacock Caddis #14 (A perfect skater fly by design)

There were some encouraging signs though. The leading edge of the small baetis colored caddis hatch are beginning to appear on the river and in a matter of days there will be some great fishing on the “O”. You should stock up on these caddis flies to prepare for the hatches.

1) Bare Belly Caddis Green #18 for perfect match

2) Adams Caddis Green #20 for fast water

3) Emperor Caddis Green #20 for flat water

The fish will soon key on these bugs and it will be a lot like the skwala hatch but a much smaller bug. During this hatch I’ve had some of the largest fish days ever on the “O” and it will be happening very soon.

Even though the weather spoiled the fishing, Jack and I still had a great day. We eked out eight fish on a variety of bugs and had the pleasure of watching an awesome storm.
Flies that caught fish
1) Beetle #12
2) Adams Caddis (Peacock) #16
3) “Get Her Done” Caddis Black #16
4) BWO Emerger #20
5) BWO Comparadun #18
6) Sheep Skin

You know it’s a tough day when you have seven bugs in your sheep skin at the end of the day.

The Owyhee River is in transition right now.  The water is high and cold, the skwala hatch has waned, and the new hatches of caddis and PMD’s have not quite begun.  Add to that, the banks of the river have been scoured by the increased flow which puts a ton of food in the water for the fish to indulge on.  The hatches of BWO and midges are ignored because the fish would much rather eat a night crawler than a #20 midge.  If you add all those factors together, it equals a tough time to dry fly fish, but if that is what you do……bring it on.

I started my day at the rock garden, and after 45 minutes of serving a Slow Stone, it became painfully obvious the fish wanted nothing to do with a skwala.  So I tried a few small stimulator patterns…nothing.  I tried a Searcher…nothing.  I moved up river to the Power Line and fished the riffle section…nothing.  In 2 ½ hours of fishing, I had one false take and 0 fish.  The wind was howling so I couldn’t hunt feeding fish either.  The day had all ingredients for a serious butt kicking until I tied on a #12 beetle and decided to fish it on the slick at the Power Line.

I was casting the beetle up stream against the wind while I was walking back to the car to move locations; and on my last cast, I was reeling in my line when a nice “Brownie” chased it down and ate it.  I landed the fish and continued to fish the beetle aggressively; skating it and then jigging it across the surface.  Out of nowhere, “Bang,” a fish would eat it.  Go figure.  I continued to work the big slick tight to the bank and out to transition water from shallow to deep.

As I was fishing I heard a bink to my right and looked just in time to see a brownie submerge after a take.  He was headed up river so I casted about 3 feet ahead of him, jigged the bug and I see the fish coming in slow motion toward the beetle.  I see his mouth come open and my bug disappear.  I hooked the fish and landed him; he was probably the nicest fish I caught all day—about 20 inches long.

The fish quit eating the beetle along that edge, but I picked up 5 big fish in fairly short order.  I waded across the river to work the beetle on the other bank, but all of a sudden the wind quit blowing and fish started feeding throughout the slick.  I changed flies to a BWO Emerger and walked to the top of the feeding fish.  Just as I was moving into position to target the first fish, the wind kicks right back up and blows the hatch away.  I waited 5 minutes and the wind intensified.  I changed to the Slow Stone to see if the fish wanted a big morsel.  I worked the edge for 75 yards and caught 2 more fish, but they would only eat the bug if I put movement on it.

I finished the day at the bottom of the slick working the beetle and picked up one small fish about a foot long.  It was a day like many I’ve dealt with in a lifetime where every possible condition was working against your dry fly.  Granted 8 fish is not many, but the fact still remains there is always a game changer fly in the box if you have the patience and you truly believe in your dry fly.

Flies that caught fish:

1)      #10 Slow Stone (Tester Fly)

2)      #12 Beetle (Peacock Hurl Belly)

I started fishing fairly early, around 10:00, just above the hot springs at the first campground.  I walked down river below the bluffs, and the first fish I encounter are working a spawning bed.  Yes a spawning bed.  I don’t know if they were big rainbows or confused “Brownies,” but they were definitely working the reds.  They looked like “Brownies.”  On another stretch of river, I witnessed the same thing. The day started slowly and after the first riffle and an hour of time I landed 2 fish; one big one, medium size.  I never casted to the 8 or 10 fish working the gravel bar.

I then fished the boulder patch at the campground.  The water there had literally no current, but I have landed some giant fish in the run so I decided to fish it.  It takes patience to fish slow water; you make long casts, let it settle and retrieve the fly slowly with erratic motion on the bug.  The system worked and I picked up three fish on the low side of the run.  About midway through the long slow hole, I casted to mid river in front of a boulder and waited as the bug painstakingly moved down river.  The “Slow Stone” was straight out from me about 15 feet away, and I see a giant head and half a body rise up and eat the bug.  He was big, heavy, and knew every boulder he could wrap me around and he proceeded to raise hell.  This was not your typical giant “Brownie,” this guy came to the ring to fight, and he did it well.  From one side of the river to the other, over and around boulders and then massive head shakes; he was all the 5wt could handle.  I finally landed him—serrated leader and all.  I don’t know how big this fish was, but the inside of the basket of my net is 17 ½ inches long, and he was over the basket on both sides.  I retied my tippet and fished through the run picking up a few more fish here and there.

I then fished the runs below the tunnel and felt like I should have caught more fish.  The fish were focused on a nymph that they were eating about 3 inches below the surface.  I landed 4 fish in the run, two of them were small, and I moved on to the run below the Ginger Bread House.

After fighting the wind all day, pounding the banks and boulders with my bug, I finally got in a pretty good run of fish.  I was peeling big fish off a shallow edge across the river.  It was pretty cool because I could actually see the fish were laying in shallow water and was able to target them.  I ended up landing a dozen or so fish to finish the day.

Flies that caught fish:

Black Slow Stone (Tester Fly)

This is a statement you will not hear me say often, but I actually got tired of catching fish today! I started fishing fairly early, around 9:30 a.m., and the fish were absolutely keyed on the skwala. We’ve been testing a new pattern for that hatch, and we will definitely have it tied for you to start the skwala season next year. In four fishing trips to the Owyhee this month, we have photo’d over 150 fish caught on this prototype.

I started fishing above the hot springs at the first large campground. There was a gentleman fishing the riffle that I wanted to fish, so I moved downriver and immediately caught two large “Brownies” while I waited for the fisherman to move on. After landing the fish, the fisherman pulled off the river and I began to move up through the riffle. I landed a couple more fish, but I had a few fish refuse the fly as I fished upstream, casting to the far bank. At the top of the riffle, I landed a few more fish then decided to fish down through the same hole. I learned something very valuable—by serving the fly downstream and casting it right against the bank, I began catching fish one right after another and the false takes disappeared. By presenting the fly downriver, I could feed the fly and let it gently drift tight against the far bank. I had just fished up through the hole and caught two fish. I fished down through the hole and landed a dozen or so. I also met the gentleman who had fished the hole ahead of me; and as is our tradition, I took my fly out of the fish’s mouth, cut it off, and gave the fly to him.

I moved upriver to the flat below the power line hole and waded into the riffle at the top of the run. Working both sides of the riffle, I continued to catch fish and more fish. After exhausting the riffle, I turned and started fishing downstream, serving the fly to the far bank and letting it drift. One fish after another rose up and ate the bug; at one point, I made six casts and landed six fish in a row. It was almost ridiculous! By 5:30, I was done with brownies and made a run to the reservoir to see if the crappies had started to bite. I wasn’t as fortunate with the crappies; I caught only two.

One note…Fish your skwala patterns downriver, tight against the edge. The fish are snuggled right against the banks, especially on the deep edges with a little current. By fishing in this manner, you never have to cast up over the top of the fish.

Flies that caught fish:

Black Skwala (Tester Fly, Size 10)

I ended up catching over 20 fish and there were some big old guys in the mix, but it took a lot of casting tight to the willow lines, around the boulders, through the riffles and along the deep edges.  I guess you could say I “ground it out” all day to catch the fish.  Lots of casts, and then out nowhere, the big “Brownie” would materialize at the hook; and when they came, they came with a purpose.  I never lost a fish I hooked because it was their intent to swallow it.  Most of the hook placements in the fish’s mouth was deep and well secured.

There was one break in mid afternoon when the wind stopped and immediately a BWO hatch started.  I changed tippets, tied on a BWO No Hackle, and addressed a group of feeding fish.  First cast, I caught a 14-inch “Brownie”; I dried my fly and immediately caught a 16-inch brownie.  Shortly after that, the wind started howling again, the fish stopped feeding, and I went back to hucking the skwala .

So I know one thing: you can catch pretty good numbers of fish on pretty gnarly day, but you better be willing to fish hard, work with the wind, and keep delivering the bug.

Flies that caught fish:

#20 BWO No Hackle

#12 Slow Stone

I began to work my way upstream casting at a quarter angle around submerged boulders.  I spotted a big fish tight against the bank cruising up stream taking midges.  As I observed his behavior, it was as if he was on a seek-and-destroy mission—wanting to eat every midge that was hatching.  I had to react quickly because he was on the move.  My first cast landed just above the fish. He moved quickly to the fly, opened his mouth, I set, but nothing pulled back.  I quickly fired back the fly into his path and “BAM,” the 20” brownie literally engulfed the fly.  He fought hard using every trick in the book to wrap himself around a rock.  He fought to the bitter end.

I continued to cast the Slow Stone to rising fish in this run, but they really started to key in on the midges; and before too long, a tremendous BWO hatch started to hatch.  I switched to a Caddidge, and the results were no less than unbelievable.  It was like kids in a candy store: Every head I served the Caddidge, the fish ate with no hesitation.  I lost count after ten beautiful fish in this run.  Thanks Nate, you’re a great guide.  The midge hatch became stronger and stronger and the river came alive with big heads.  I worked my way upstream to a long slick with a deep willow edge on the far side.

I began to pick fish off one by one as I worked my way up the slick.  They could not resist the Caddidge.  I served every fish with a quarter-angle cast so not to put them down with my leader.  This is key; it is so vital on the “O” and on my home waters on the Henry’s Fork.  You must either present the fly to the fish across and down, directly down, or quarter-angle upstream.

I finally made it to the top of the slick, and there was a pod of feeding fish along the far bank.  I was able to put myself in a perfect casting position—real close to where they were in a feeding frenzy.  The BWO’s had intensified and the fish began to take duns right off the surface.  I was tempted to switch to a BWO No Hackle which I know they would have eaten, but I continued to put the Caddidge over fish after fish. Even in this unbelievable BWO hatch, they continued to eat the Caddidge, like I said, “without hesitation.”

I landed well over 15 fish in this run; the smallest being 17-18” and the biggest being 21”-22.”  This was the kind of day every fly fisher dreams about.  I don’t know about you, but if you’re serious about catching fish on a fly that works all year around, you definitely need a good selection of Caddidges.

Flies that caught fish:

Slow Stone #10

Caddidge #22