wildfly wrote:Hey Bernard, did you and Mikey end up doing that trip you talked to me about? I'd love to know how that went if you did... David and I were bummed we couldn't go but had to get his boat in the water and get some more filming done for our video we are working on.
Mikey backed out last minute but I did go and it rocked. No browns and even some runoff and snowmelt due to the warm spell. Lots of stellar bows with my best on a dry LOL !!! Anyway - We have something else planned in a few weeks.
Now regarding them thar gauges ..
coreyk wrote:Great post! Some good tactics to think about that
will help me to up my game. Man .. Now I'm really itching to get out and throw some streamers!
That 27" brown is beautiful fish!
So, when watching flows what exactly are you looking for as an indicator that it would be a good time to go after a trophy brown?
I thought about this and there are a few things to consider. One of the key ones is that the gauge readings don't mean much unless one knows the water. For example: If River X is at 58 cfs, then the shallow bar and side channel are submerged. Fish like that spot and will move in but as it gets lower than 40 cfs and warms they will leave or get trapped and die. Stuff like that. Another factor I watch that is associated with flows is when they are associated with snowmelt. For example, after stream x drops to xxx cfs, then I know that snowmelt is just days from over and fish may have moved in from down river or the nearby lake; this could be a trigger for good bites or ease of access. Access is key. Say the hog holes are through a narrow gorge which you can't swim with a 500hp Evinrude tied to your rear; then watch the gauges for a drop LOL! For rainbows there are streams where excess flows will make migrating difficult whereas a certain level is optimal for them to navigate small falls etc. This, of course, works the other way too. Throwing into a torrent below a series of falls or plunges might result in stacked fish. I digress though 'cause browns have the added headache of being fall spawners and can't always migrate. In this case, I look for spikes such as random storms etc. 'cause I believe that this can inspire the fish to make effort to move despite limitations.
Yours truly,
Obsessed
* Love the Samson story - Always fun to revisit *