Here's my report on two hours spent wading about a mile downstream on the upper Green River today between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Flows were steady at 600 cfs. Water temp just shy of 55F. Visibility was excellent and the weather was great. There seem to be even more chinook in the system than a week ago and I saw one sockeye sitting on a redd as well. I had the opportunity in a side channel that was loaded with chinook to watch two bucks, one a bit larger than the other, feuding over a hen that was busy digging a redd. It was a nice diversion. The side channel was so chock full of spawners that I chose a different, smaller side channel to make my way further downstream so as to not disturb them and or damage any of the redds. While making a somewhat difficult crossing at one point a very large, spooked chinook, probably over 25 or 30 pounds, nearly ran into me - it really startled me because I figured it was probably large enough to trip me and I wasn't in a good spot to take a dip! The fishing and the catching was great. I nymphed with a #10 Copper John and my new, experimental #16 Green Rockworm*. I hooked about 20 and landed 8, all rainbows, the largest at about 12 or 13 inches; also, brought two flopping whitefish to hand. More of the fish were on the Copper John, I think 5 of the 8, but my Rockworm was also quite effective so I considered the experiment a success and will take a good number of these to Rock Creek with me end of October. There was more insect activity than a week ago as well. There were a good number of #16 caddis about, many of them ovipositing; I saw one ovipositing october caddis; there was a fair to light hatch of mayflies that were about #14 with a slightly transluscent light brown body (what are these, anyone know?); a few #20 pseudochloeon were out and about - these are different than the variety I've seen in Eastern WA as they do not have the two dark segments on the end of their tails; and there was significant tiny midge activity the entire time. I also saw a fair number of new shucks on the rocks from large caddis, about #12, that look perhaps like netbuilders by the style of shuck, though I can't say for certain since I'm only a little familiar with the netbuilder type of caddis. None of these insects brought any fish to the surface, however, so I never considered fishing a dry fly. I think the most difficult thing about wading up there is that the riffles are quite spaced apart and the rocks are very slippery, so it's tiring and trying to do a mile long wade. I was fortunate to have some landowners that I met allow me to walk across their land to get to the road rather than wading a mile back upstream. All in all it was a great day on the river. -tight lines- Jim * The Rockworm, if you're interested, is tied on a #2487BL, has a tapered, olive, Serendipity-style body, and a short, dark brown antron wingcase over chocolate brown hareline dubbing thorax with guardhairs plucked out at the bottom for legginess (is that a word?) The wingcase's sole purpose is to form a smooth, shiny head and force the dubbing downward, so it's not really a wingcase but that's how it's tied. The thing I like most is that it's so simple that I can tie a whole mess of them in no time... oh, and of course, that it actually works ;)
