Brookie Fishing When Flows Are High

[troutbert]

Yesterday (Saturday) I fished a brookie stream in NC PA. Even though the big creeks were still very high, looked dangerous to wade, and very few people were fishing them, the brookie streams were at a perfect flow level.

You can just skip the mornings. Fish in the afternoon. Then the sun has warmed things up some, there is typically more bug activity, so the trout are more likely to be looking up. The water temp was only 50F yesterday, but they were hitting dries well.

A Stimulator or other shaggy dry fly is just the thing when the small streams are rattling and roaring.

If you have a chance this weekend, try a small forested freestone stream. They are in perfect condition.

 

[wildtrout2]

Good advice TB, but those water temps are what's got me wondering if the long trip north is worth it? Fifty is OK for brookies, but the browns want it warmer.

 

[sarce]

Yeah the small streams are just getting into prime time up here now.

Often in high flows, I won't catch a fish in a spot if I cast from downstream with a dry. I think it whizzes by their head too quickly or something. But then I will sneak over to the side or head of the pool and skate the fly over the same place and it's amazing how many times that has produced fish when a natural drift got no response. When flows drop more and water warms a little more, this becomes unnecessary as they'll usually take the fly right away.

 

[troutbert]

sarce wrote:
Yeah the small streams are just getting into prime time up here now.

Often in high flows, I won't catch a fish in a spot if I cast from downstream with a dry. I think it whizzes by their head too quickly or something.

The water is often much faster where the water is flowing out of the tailout of the pool than in the pool itself, where you'd like your fly to linger a little.

But when you cast straight up through the tailout (lip) of the pool, the fast current there grabs your fly line and rips the fly out of there.

Sometimes you can cast up over a rock or log, so your fly line is resting on something that's not moving, rather than landing right in the fast water of the main tongue of current exiting the pool.

Sometimes there is no big obstruction like that to cast over. But you can just move a little to either side and cast up over water that is a little slower moving.

Check casts can be used to throw some slack in there, to give you a little more drift.

 

[evw659]

tb, whats a check cast?

 

[sarce]

All great tips TB, I usually position myself so I can lay the line off to the side of the main current, but when the water is high sometimes it seems like the entire stream is moving too fast for a good drift. Usually that only applies to a couple of runs and the rest of the stream is fine to fish upstream with dries.

I'd say this year, each time I've gone brookie fishing I've caught anywhere from 2-4 brookies by skating a fly through water that I had already made several good drifts through from downstream. One day I had a 9" brookie chase a skated fly 5 times before finally getting hooked. Natural drift through that area didn't get touched. Flows were almost raging, but clear.

It's only in certain conditions that I think it makes a difference, and those conditions have been prevalent all year so far. Even then the difference is just a couple extra fish, and when you're catching 15 or 20 or 50 in a day, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

My theory is that on a brookie stream, anywhere that looks like it should have a brookie probably does. In high water, if nothing takes your first method of presentation, you probably didn't get its attention, so try another method before moving on. A fly "waking" on the surface a few inches from where you think they are holding will always accomplish that.

In lower water, it's different. If nothing takes your first method of presentation, you probably spooked the fish that was in that spot without realizing it, because they will notice ANYTHING that touches the water and crush it immediately.

 

[troutbert]

evw659 wrote:
tb, whats a check cast?

Ummm. Maybe someone can explain this better than me, but...

The goal is to get some slack leader and line piled onto the water, so the fly can float for a while before the current grabs the line and rips everything downstream.

1) False cast more length of line then you actually need to reach your target.

2) Check (stop) your forward cast earlier than you normally would. You stop the rod closer to vertical than normal.

3) The result is an underpowered cast. So, instead of the fly line and leader just going out on the water in a straight line, you gets some slack on the water.

George Harvey described this slack as S-curves. That's probably the ideal. It can very closely resemble a "sloppy cast", if you weren't doing it deliberately.

The slack leader and line gives your fly a little more time and distance to float, before fast current grabs the line, and you see your fly getting ripped through the quiet pool or pocket like a water skier getting towed by a speedboat.

Often just a few seconds is all you can get, but often that is all that's needed.

 

[Fishidiot]

Agree - small stream conditions are perfect right now.

Down here in the SC, things are ideal. I checked out some creeks while coming back from a morning hike in Michaux (didn't fish, just looked) and they have perfect water levels.

 

[evw659]

tb,
thanks for the explanation. I've used that type of cast before, i just didn't know it was called a "check" cast. It does work well when you have to lay line over a swift tailout like you describe.

 

[RLeeP]

Take a bass boat anchor or a long piece of sturdy rope and lash yourself to a stream side tree so you don't get washed away. That way, you don't miss the best of the small/medium size stream high water dry fly fishing so long as the water is relatively clear and has a decent temp. 50F is a good benchmark, but it was always my view that velocity of temp rise is just as important if not more so. I've had some crazy good days where the water started out at say, 42 and topped out at 48 and never made the magical 50.

But the rope or anchor is crucial for being all set to take advantage of the best of it...

 

[Wild_Trouter]

I have been fishing exclusively for brookies the past three weeks on account of high flows in larger streams. I have done exceptionally well in Blair, Lycoming, Centre, Clinton and Union Counties. The mountain stream levels are ideal, and the fish are very opportunistic. As good as this is, I have not seen another fisherman in this time either.

 

[salmonoid]

I've had three really good outings on mixed brown/brook streams this year. Temps were 40-45 degrees, so while it may have been better at 50 degrees, I still did ok at the lower temps. Catch ratios were anywhere from 1:1 to 13:1 brown to brook. Guarantee that in lower flows, that latter may well be reversed.

 

[Brownie101]

sarce wrote: "I'd say this year, each time I've gone brookie fishing I've caught anywhere from 2-4 brookies by skating a fly through water that I had already made several good drifts through from downstream. One day I had a 9" brookie chase a skated fly 5 times before finally getting hooked. Natural drift through that area didn't get touched. Flows were almost raging, but clear."

I can back sarce up on this. I saw him do it once. The fish was about 6", and came up for the fly about 5 times. I fished the pool with a streamer and turned up nothing. I was standing about 2 feet from the fish.

 

[sarce]

I forgot about that one. That was hilarious! I was getting so pissed that I couldn't hook it, each time I thought for sure it would stop trying to eat the fly...nope!

 

[Brownie101]

I don't think it was that you couldn't hook him, I just think the fish wouldn't take the fly for long enough to make it possible. I was amazed at how many times that fish came up. I've never seen that before!

 

[sarce]

Sometimes it just kind of nudged it, but at least two or three times I set the hook and felt the weight of it before the hook popped free, which is why I was so surprised it kept coming back. Sting a fish like that and it's usually game over.

 

[k-bob]

nice thread. I have seen some nice buzzing little bugs over tiny remote brookie streams. have also met camo-covered turkey hunters so I have done some fishing in orange vest and hat... turkey season may last until may 31 anyone know if that is correct? orange vest and hat doesn't help but you can still catch brookies working upstream

 

[dryflyguy]

Fishing brookie streams has saved many outings for me when all of the big streams are blown out. I use wulff patterns under those conditions.
However, I still prefer to fish them when they're at low summer levels.
I just love the challenge of sneaking up on low, crystal clear pools - and plopping in a beetle or ant pattern - which, by the way, don't seem to be very effective for me during higher flow levels.

As a general rule IMO - lower water levels still seem to be more productive for dry fly fishing, just about anywhere.

 

[Acristickid]

Fished West Licking creek in Mifflin yesterday afternoon to seek some shade and a change of pace. It was a beautifully forested area and the road over from Mcveyville was one of the most rugged I have driven in PA.

It was of good size (I dont really care to fish very tight and brushy streams) for a mountain stream. Fished above the picnic area for a mile or so- caught only wild browns to 8-10 inches on my 14 Ausable whulff. Nice weekend weather- good spinner falls last two nights.

It does allow me to enjoy my favorite kind of fishing- blind casting a big dry to where a fish should be- often gratifying.

 

[mikesl]

sarce wrote:
Yeah the small streams are just getting into prime time up here now.

Often in high flows, I won't catch a fish in a spot if I cast from downstream with a dry. I think it whizzes by their head too quickly or something. But then I will sneak over to the side or head of the pool and skate the fly over the same place and it's amazing how many times that has produced fish when a natural drift got no response. When flows drop more and water warms a little more, this becomes unnecessary as they'll usually take the fly right away.

Thanks for this idea sarce.
I am new to brookie fishing, but went out today and hit a small medium gradient stream. Some holes looked really fishy but had too fast surface currents... your "skating / dragging the fly from upstream" worked like a charm in those spots.