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S Fork Snoqualmie Report

966 views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  chadk 
#1 ·
As promised here's my report of last nights after work expedition to the S. Fork. The water was gin clear and just a little high although I didn't have too many problems wading nearly to the golf course. Landed 3-4 smaller trout (all rainbows 8-9") and lost a larger one (10-12") and also caught a large whitefish (18"). My fishing partner was fishing a small stimulator dry and letting it drag at the end. Caught several smaller 'bows and a larger one of about 10", most hookups occured after the fly was swinging. I was fishing epoxy copper barr beadhead nymphs (the red wire ones seemed to work best). There were spotty hatches early (6pm)of a large (size 10-12) brown mayflys with really long tails- 2-3 times the length of their body. Could these be Brown Drakes ? I have no idea what they were but didn't see any rises to them. Caddis activity was strangely sparse, although I did see a few fish rising to them where they were present. The main hatch was after about 8:30pm. Small (18-20)
solid cream white (no olive body) mayflys really came out strong and the water was really alive with rises. One of the heaviest hatches I've seen on the S.Fork. I've never been able to figure out what these little mayflys are and I'd love to know so I could tie an emerger and nymph patterns to match as I think the vast majority of the action would be subsurface for most of the day. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks again to everyone who replied so quickly to my request for info last night, this is really the best forum around IMHO!:thumb
 
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#2 ·
I hate to say this, but a good while ago a partner and I discovered that we could catch ALOT of those upper forks fish rather easily by getting a Royal Trude soaked and then stripping it through pools fully sunk. Too easy.
:beer1
 
#3 ·
Weird!, come to think of it my fishing partners' fly looked more like a trude than a true stimulator. Wonder what the heck they think it is? Also I'm thinking emergers might be the way to go versus only dries because even on nymphs, 75% of the hits are when the fly is draggin like the hunchback of Notre Dame. :dunno :dunno
 
#4 ·
Yep - the average trout on the forks is just looking for an easy meal. Don't need to be too scientific in the approach 95% of the time. Now to consistently find fish over 10", that takes a little effort and thought. And generally the biggest challenge on the forks is just locating some fish. Many spots are picked clean by meat fisherman. But once you get 100yards away from the road, or any place you have to actually wade to get to, you will do much better.

But to me, the best part of the forks is getting constant action on dry flies (dead drifted). It isn't always the most effective approach, and I'm not afraid to try swinging it or sinking it if things are slow, but I love to see fish leaping out of the water for my fly. :thumb
Under the right conditions and in the right locations, you can catch 30 fish an hour easily and have multible fish leaping at your fly the moment it hits the water. Most of those fish will be 'dinks', so after about 5 or 10, I move a little or change tactics to look for bigger fish, or just to try something different to break the repetition.

As for getting the bigger fish consistently, I'll leave that up to the individual to figure out. But there is a pretty reliable formula along the lines of : location (as in not close to the road) + water depth + water speed + structure + river bottom type. When working the few stretches of water I tend to fish, I will work the average water one way, then switch when I'm in 'big fish' territory.
 
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