The flows were lower then expected when we arrived around 2 AM and there were definitely less fish then we had seen in the past. We all tied up some mysis and fish for close to 3 hours before calling it quits to get some sleep. We each caught 8-10 fish with the largest being around 20 inches. I was amazed to find no anglers in the morning, although the reason was a little easier to discover. The big fish were either all up at the dam or have been hurt by the low flows in recent years. I think some my even get poached at night and kept. I only spotted one nice rainbow in the whole ¼ mile catch-n-release section. I managed to drift my split-shot right into it and scare it off in the first couple of casts. We caught some smaller browns in the lower part of the section on pheasant tails and San Juans. There would be no big fish stories this trip. We can only hope for more snow this coming winter and higher flows next spring.

 

August 14, 2004