Owyhee River, OR

Little ways below Pigeon Hole; Hole above Rock Garden; Rock Garden

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Outing Information

Date
Start/End Time
7:00pm to 10:00pm
Best Fishing Time
9:45pm to 10:00pm
Rating
Fair
Classification
Public
Water Temp
-
Water Clarity
Stained - 1' to 3' visibility
Water Level
250cfs
User
Jason Hansen

Fish Caught

Brown Trout

Caught Avg Size Pattern Optional Fields
2 18" #18 Yellow CDC Biot Thorax Dun Notes: Below Pigeon Hole
1 17" #16 Yellow CDC Mayfly Emerger Notes: Below Pigeon Hole
1 18" #16 Yellow Halfback Notes: Below Pigeon Hole
1 21" #16 Brown Spent Partridge Caddis Notes: Rock Garden
1 18" #16 Brown Spent Partridge Caddis Notes: Rock Garden
6 18.33"
Total: 6 fish Top Patterns: Spent Partridge Caddis (2) CDC Biot Thorax Dun (2) Halfback (1)

Weather

SkiesMorningAfternoonEvening
Sunny X
Precipitation
None X
Wind
None X
Air Temp High/Low
95.0°F / 85.0°F
Wind Direction
-
Weather Front
-
Barometer
-
Moon Phase
74% Full (Waxing gibbous)

Other Patterns Tried

No other pattern information for this outing.

Hatches

  • #18-#20 Pale Yellow/Cream Pale Morning Dun Ephemeroptera Ephemerella

Insect Seining

No seining information for this outing.

Fishing Partners

Zak Stroud

Waypoints

No waypoints were saved with this outing.

Tides

No tide information was saved with this outing.

Notes

Lots 'o people on the water. Zak and I started at a new hole because the standard spots were taken. We found a slow, steady pool where there were good numbers of fish rising. Before we started fishing I was attaching some 5x tippet to the end of my leader using a double surgeon's knot. Before I tightened the knot down I put it in my mouth to wet the line. I decided to tighten the knot while it was in my mouth and succeeded in tying the knot around one taste bud. Ow! I tried pulling to pull it free and that didn't work. I tried working it free with my tongue and that didn't work either. I finally went back to the car, showed Zak, then was able to use my nippers at cut part of the knot free while looking in a mirror. And this happened a day after I embedded a #16 barbed scud hook in my toe.

There were plenty of fish rising, but individual fish were rising somewhat inconsistently. Fish would rise to an adult PMD, then let the several next adults float past. That made it tough to figure out if they were really rising to adults, or just not being serious about feeding. I was able to get 4 but it wasn't necessarily pretty. One thing I noticed is the hatching PMDs were pretty light colored - lighter than my thorax duns. So I'll need to tie a few paler flies up. Perhaps with white CDC for the wings.

We finished the night up at the Rock Garden. There were a few fish rising at the tail-out, but I saw several fish rising in the riffles just below the tail-out to an amazing caddis hatch. I watched one fish rise to a few caddis in the waning light while I switched setups from my thorax dun/spinner to a spent partridge caddis. I realized I wouldn't be able to see my fly in the low light so I put on a pinch-on float about 2' above the fly. My first cast to the fish I was watching resulted in a rise. He turned out to be a 21" beauty. I also caught an 18" fish I had seen rising. After those two, it was very dark and I couldn't see any fish in the riffles anymore.