Fishing - Rapid River part II

Fishing has slowed a bit because of the constant 400 cfs flow. The
word is that they will "flush" the bass spawn on the 21st of this month
by opening the dam to a near flood stage. The logic is to slow the
flow thereby raising the temperature of the water so the bass can
spawn, then flushing the spawn out of the river with a high flow. Duh!
What genius thought up that tactic? Once a bass has made it into a
body of water, it is there to stay unless you kill it and all other
species chemically. A perfect example of man screwing up what man has
already screwed up.

Meanwhile, at 400 cfs, you can wade anywhere. Low flows bring in lots
of locals either by bike, foot, or boat. They know the fishing will be
good because low flows open more water to them. Trouble is, many do
not know how to protect the fish. I only fished half days last week -
sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon. One afternoon I
wandered down to the dam after my afternoon nap and watched a guy
landing a salmon. He played and played and played the salmon for about
5 minutes before I went down to the water and told him he was killing
the fish by playing it so long. It was not a big fish and should have
been landed within a minute of hooking. His reply was, "But, there's
still fight in him." Well, DUH. I informed him that playing a fish to
total exhaustion would probably kill it. I told him to land his catch
as quickly as possible and left him with the 1 minute per pound rule.
I think (HOPE) I converted him.

On another day off, I discovered a guy that I thought was pregnant. He
had on neoprenes that accentuated his pot belly. A thin guy with a pot
belly. Honest, he looked like he was pregnant. He was fishing the
spot where I caught some large brookies the previous week. The trouble
was that he was too lazy to climb off the platform and stand on the
rocks. Instead he dragged an elkhair caddis thru the current using a
strike indicator.(??) The only fish that would fall for it were small
(10 inch) salmon that he would haul up onto the platform where he could
take out the hook and throw them back (a drop of about six feet). He
was happy and didn't seem to care whether those around him were
catching bigger fish by using other methods.

I fished the third spillway at the dam on Tuesday morning. This is the
water that produced so many big fish on the previous week. I climbed
down onto the rocks and cast my size 20 nymph into the bubbles coming
from the dam. I was immediately rewarded with a good size salmon.
More good fish followed, including 14 - 16 inch brookies, but the
monsters weren't to be fooled. After an hour I decided to give the
spot to someone else. I motioned for this guy to come over and take
the spot. When he arrived I noticed he had only the butt section of a
leader and an enormous nymph tied to it *with a half hitch*. I kid you
not. He managed to get the end of the leader through the eye of the
fly and tied it off with a half hitch. I asked if he had another
leader and he said no, but his friend did. So off he went to get some
leader material from his friend. He came back about 5 minutes later
with a four foot section of what appeared to be 5x tippet. I actually
managed to tie that to his butt section with a triple surgeons knot,
and it seemed to hold. I then asked to look at his fly box and
selected the ONLY caddis dry fly he had, a poorly tied elkhair caddis.
He had hemostats so I showed him how to use them to tie on the fly.

He was ready to fish, but didn't quite know how. I took his rod and
cast into the current and we watched his fly drift until it picked up
drag. I told him to drag it in the current before quickly retrieving
it. Sometimes both brookies and salmon will hit a dragging fly. I
informed him it was important for the fly to drift without any drag and
he seemed to understand. As luck would have it, a fish came up for the
fly and I set the hook and handed him the rod. He pointed the rod at
the fish thereby using only the line (and my knots) to hold the fish.
He thought if the rod bent it would break. Another DUH! He landed the
fish by hauling it up onto the platform instead of climbing down onto
the rocks. And yet another DUH!

It spoils one to have such great fishing one week only to have good
fishing the next. Harry's Perfect Killer Caddis was still working, but
only in the #16 size. I watched brook trout and salmon come up to take
the fly, only to stop short and escape back to the depths of the river.
I've been told over the years that when this happens there is
something wrong with the fly, either size, color, or presentation. The
week before the fly took fish in all sizes, the color was the same, and
I hadn't changed my presentation. So, it must be the size. I went
from a size 18 to a 14, but they still refused it. When I changed to
size 16 I caught fish. That fly took some big fish during both weeks.
I shared it with many friends over both weeks and told them how to get
it from Harry's site. And, no, Harry doesn't pay me to push that fly.

The river is slowly rising in temperature with the 400 cfs flow. The
very cold nights (sometimes into the high 30s, low 40s), overcast and
cool days is the saving grace that has kept the river cool. However,
it has to warm. What the idiots that are trying to rid the bass from
the river seem to ignore is the fact that running the river for several
weeks at 400 cfs is what brought the bass up from Umbagog in the first
place. It probably will spoil July fishing. And, of course, it will
attract the local yahoos who do not know how the handle the fish.

Joanne, Jenny, and I leave for Lakewood tomorrow. I will stick to my 3
- 4 hour half day routine of fishing as long as the river stays below
68 degrees. I won't fish it after that. Let us hope they open the
gates to a reasonable flow. It will protect the fish with colder temps
and less local yahoos to mistreat them.

Dave
(Oooops, almost forgot: I took a Full Reid off the Flat Rock at the
dam. Fell into about six feet of water and came up sputtering. Sank
and bounced off the bottom. Sank and bounced off the bottom again.
Finally got to a sort-of submerged float and into water where I could
stand. Jeffy would have been proud. Anyone want to guess how much
water extra large waders can hold?)