Owyhee River, OR

Outing Information

Pictures

Fish Caught

Brown Trout

Weather

Other Patterns Tried

• #20 Black Clear Wing Spinner
• #16 Pheasant Tail
• #18 BWO CDC Biot Thorax Dun
• #18 Adams
• #14 Black Ant, Fur
• #20 Olive Parachute Midge Emerger
• #20 Black Parachute Midge Emerger
• #20 Griffith Gnat
• #22 Black Parachute

Fishing Partners

Waypoints

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Tides

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Notes

What a tough fishing day. Karl, Zak and I finally got to the river around noon and didn't see any fishing looking up, so Zak and I started fishing the riffle at our regular spot while Karl walked upstream a ways. I got a fish within the first 10 minutes in pretty shallow water, but the rest of the time fishing was slow. I had another decent fish on but he snagged my line in some moss and got off. Later I caught a nice 18" brown in pretty shallow riffles. The fishing was slow, though - I caught those fish in an hour+ span while Zak fished across from me and landed nothing.

After nymphing I ate lunch and sat there watching the riffles hoping for a hatch to occur but nothing ever happened. The few rises that happened throughout the day were sporadic. There were a decent amount of midges on and around the water, but I only saw maybe 2 or 3 baetis all day.

One interesting/fun part of the day regarded a fish that was sitting in 2' of water in a tiny side channel right next to the road. For most people who walked by that spot, their eyes would be elsewhere on the river looking for risers, not in this little trough that looked like frog water. Zak and I were walking the length of the hole looking for surface activity when I spotted a brown lurking in this channel. He actually ended up being a pretty consistent riser. Initially, Zak and I took turns taking 5-10 casts to him while the other person would stand up on the road and spot the fish and spot the cast. Because the water was very slow moving in this area, the big brown had plenty of time to study everything that floated by. He came up and actually bumped my black PME with his nose one but snubbed the fly. He also bumped a pattern Zak had on with his nose but didn't take it. On several occasions he rose within 3 or 4 inches of our flies. One he would rise once or be interested in our flies, he would refuse every subsequent offering of it.

The first session of Zak and I trading casts to this fish ended after 45 minutes or so when I was kneeling on the bank, lost my balance, and not wanting to stabalize myself by reaching a foot into the water and possibly disturbing the fish, I grasped frantically at grasses and other streamside vegetation which did nothing. Sadly, I finally toppled over and did a face plant into water and soaked myself and scared the fish, all while Zak and Karl watched.

We left the fish alone and came back an hour or so later and he was back in his feeding position, rising lazily to miscellaneous surface items. This time, Zak took up a lower position below him and in the water, and I crept on the bank to within 10 feet of him and was in a position where I could cast, stand, and see him without spooking him. Again, Zak and I traded off every 5 to 10 casts. After getting refused for a fly several times, I'd let Zak make casts while I switched flies to try something new. Zak did the same. I got another bump with the nose on a small Adams, but that's it. Zak left after a bit and I continued making 5-10 casts per fly to the fish and switching flies frantically. Finally, probably an hour or so later, with Zak watching from above, I got a rise from the fish on a #20 Griffith's Gnat. Incredible. The fish was somewhere around 20" and flopped about quite a bit before finally throwing the fly. Even though I didn't land him it was still a small moral victory.

Thinking back, the fish was interested in 3 of my flies: black PME, Adams, and a Griffith's Gnat. With the latter two flies, the fly sits further out of the water than a flush-floating parachute or CDC thorax pattern. Maybe that made it look more like food and harder for the fish to discern exactly what the pattern was in the slow, flat water.

Towards evening after the sun set behind the cliffs, there was still very little surface activity so we drove down to the 2.5 mile hole and saw some sporadic risers. The rising was too inconsistent to really dry fly fish for to specific fish so I put on a mohair leech and caught a skinny 15".