South Fork 8-01-09

The flow dropped another 500 cfs to 11,200 the night before last. With each drop more gravel bars appear and the riffle fishing just gets better. The fish can real picky though so if you find your yourself in a situation where the fish comes up and bumps or swirls underneath your fly change the silhouette. If you are using a parachute pale morning dun switch to a  comparadun, thorax dun or no hackle.  If that doesn’t work move on to  a cripple dun pattern or emerger. Just keep changing until you find something that works. Its not uncommon to catch two or three fish on three different life cycle patterns in the same riffle

The fish are taking both chernobyls and hoppers better now. The best action seems to be in the morning and into the early afternoon. Some parts of the river suffer through a “dead zone” beginning around 3 pm especially on bright sunny days. Things get better again later in the evening.