This past week marked one of the first times all season long that water levels returned to near normal flows on our local tributaries. With that being said, while I write this, the rivers are on the rise again, providing some great fishing opportunities. All of the local tributaries to the Otter are at a great wading level right now and these cool nights and rain spells are helping to maintain these conditions.
Overall the fishing has been good lately. There are a lot of ways to target trout right now so make sure to have a healthy supply of dries, nymphs, and streamers on hand on any given day as they are all putting fish to the net. Time of day has not seemed to have any major effect on the number of fish being brought to the net, but make sure to keep an eye on the water temperatures on those hot sunny afternoons, remember fishing for and catching trout water temps at or near 70* significantly increases the risk of fish mortality.
When it comes to fly selection I have seen a pronounced increase in fish-to-net ratios on patterns that are olive, green, or tan/natural colored. Green machines, iron lotus in olive, mop flies, and large stonefly imitations have been my go-to-patterns as of late and in the off colored water this morning the squirmy wormy picked up several nice fish.
I will be getting out on a couple of our local still-water ponds this weekend and will hopefully have another update on the bass/pike front soon.
Enjoy!
-Devin
