Fishing Report
July 22, 2011
The Dog Days
The oppressive heat is felt by anglers and fish alike. This week's heat has had an impact on the water temperatures in our rivers and fishing has slowed down a bit. The forecast is calling for cooler nights which should allow the river temperatures to revert back to normal for this time of year. Despite the warm up the fishing has been o.k. on trout rivers, most notably the Upper Manistee with it's cooler temps than neighboring rivers. The terrestrial fishing continues to build as do Trico numbers in the morning. Very light and sporadic hatches of a number of different bugs include Isonycias, BWOs, Tan Caddis, and Light Cahills. During the day try attractors like stimulators and royal wulffs and foam and rubber leg terrestrial patterns like ants, hoppers, etc. For more information and ideas on fishing this time of year, check out "Fishing After the Hex." The low light hours seem to be best right now since the water is clear and the sun bright. In the real low light hours of the night try casting mouse patterns into the shallows now that the moon is getting small again. Please fight and handle fish quickly and give them a long time to recover before releasing in these temperatures. Trout Fishing below Tippy Dam should be avoided with the water temperatures what they are. Instead consider fishing for the smallmouth that migrate upstream. Streamers and some surface activity can make a bright, sunny day fun as these fish aren't as particular to conditions as trout are. Crayfish patterns remain a good nymph/streamer pattern as their carapaces are still soft after the recent molt. The lake and pond fishing has been good as bass and bluegill thrive in warmer water. Fish the structure and drop offs for the better bass fishing and never let logs and lilly pads go un-fished. Divers make for fun surface and subsurface fishing whereas poppers can chug up fish out of the depth for visual surface feeding. The gills are still coming up top on small poppers and spiders and when the water is choppy, small nymphs and streamers are having success. Good Luck, Ted
No comments:
Post a Comment