Fishing big water

[pwk5017]

I wouldnt consider myself a beginner fly angler, but I certainly am a beginner when it comes to fishing "big" water. I hit meadow run on sunday morning and was shocked by the horde of people there. After about 2 hours and 6 fish, I decided to ditch the crowds and get my first taste of wading and fishing the middle yough(ohiopyle to confluence). This was my first time wading and fly fishing a river of this size. I was mildly intimidated, but I jumped right in and gave it the old college try. I was probably 3/4-mile up from ohiopyle and was fishing just below some turbulent water between some very large boulders. There were about 4 different currents in between me and my targeted holding lies making it really difficult to get a nice drift. I attempted to wade closer and ended up in a pocket over my waders with one step--my first hint that this river does not play nicely. After taking on a bit of water and understanding the futility of my nymphing attempts in that stretch I decided to walk 2 miles up the path in search of more wader friendly water and perhaps water I might be able to read better. I did find more shallow water, but still found myself baffled by the expanse of water before me and my ineptitude. I have always heard when fishing bigger water to, "break the river into smaller streams". I can see where this can easily be applied in some of the riffle/heavy boulder sections, but I dont understand how to feasibly fish those areas, because you just cant wade them(water greater than 5') unless you stand on one of the shore boulders and attempt to fish from shore. In my second example of stream structure, where do you even begin on one of these immense riffle/runs? The water surface was uniform in speed with absolutely no hints at holding lies below the surface AND it was 100 yards wide by 300+ long. Lastly, I stuck to a tandem rig of nymphs that I had confidence in, but perhaps this isnt an effective method for the yough? Should I take my 7wt next time and swing streamers all day? I took a beating for about 3 hours and then headed back to meadow run to piece together my shattered pride.

I included two pictures to try and illustrate similar water types of the yough that I encountered.

 

[McSneek]

The Yough does not play nicely. First and foremost use caution when wading it. What you've heard about breaking large water down in to smaller sections is excellent advice but still tough to do on a big river like that. I think you just have to hunt for fishable/accessible stretches and concentrate on them. Working the water with streamers is a good strategy to try. Also try swinging some wet flys which can allow you to cover more water than nymphing. Fish it when flows are down which usually isn't until Fall.

 

[dryflyguy]

Ditto what Mc sneak said. Use caution on the yough for sure. There are many places there I wouldn't even attempt to fly fish. But there are also plenty of shallow calmer spots where wading isn't that bad.
I also don't even bother trying it if the cfs is over 1,000, which it was a few days ago. But I think the recent rain/snow has raised it again.

 

[midnightangler]

For those heavy riffles, you should start in the slightly softer areas that are knee to chest deep. Trout will spread out throughout the riffle, so you won't need to cover the whole thing to find fish. There will be a fish in every decent holding lie.

Flat water is harder. Either wait for a fish to rise or cast streamers to the bank and cover water. Blind-casting dries on big flat pools is a fools errand. You'll line and spook 100 times as many fish as you catch.

 

[boli]

I don't even wear my chest waders at the Yough around Ohiopyle area. If I need my chest waders there, i'm in too far. One wrong move and you're going down and it could be ugly. I stay on the boulders and hit the runs and pools as far out as I can roll cast..which isn't far. I'm no seasoned vet as I just got my fly rod a couple weeks ago, but i've been fishing the yough for years. Was there last week and the flow was about 880. We caught a little over 20, with a couple bruisers on beadheads and a few on buggers. Went back Sunday and didnt catch a thing though. Yough can be hit or miss, but they're in there.