Current River Report 12/29/2011

Access:  Baptist (big surprise)

Weather:  Sunny and close to 60, surprisingly cold in the morning

Time Fished:  6:30 to 3:00

Water:  Clear until the jet boat came

Flow:  112 cfs

Hatch:  Caddis , A Jet Boat

I was looking at the blog the other day and noticed I hadn't posted in a while.  I then noticed something far more sinister.  I haven't been to the Current since September!!  I've been doing a little warmwater fishing and messing with those goofy trout they stock in the lakes around town but I haven't been to my "home waters" in way too long.  So bright, make that dark, and early Thursday I headed down.   

  I actually beat the sun.  Since it was still dark I decided streamers would be a wise choice.  I knew it was cold out but I quickly realized it was really cold.  My guides were freezing up.  Considering it would get up to 60 I found this surprising.  Stripping streamers through frozen guides is no fun so I went and switched to the nymph rod.

Once the sun arrived it warmed up quickly and people started showing up.  It was by no means "trout park crowded"  but you'd never guess it was a weekday at the end of December.  I worked most of the run below the parking lot until deciding it was going to get crowded.  I was going to work upstream but saw a few guys heading that way so I took the shortcut downstream.  Once down there I had lots more elbow room.  I've noticed that no matter how many cars are in the lot there still won't be many people down around the S-bend.  If you're really hell-bent on solitude just keep going, there's almost never anyone even close to Ashley with the obvious exception of floaters.

I wouldn't say I was doing good but I was catching fish.  I got one in all the likely spots but never pulled more than one out of a hole with only one exception.  I did get two out of spot I usually just glance over....not anymore.  I caught far more browns than I did bows which is a little odd.  My best fish of the day was a rainbow with great color.  It was only around sixteen inches but put up a great fight, really using some fast water to it's advantage. No matter what I was catching they all had one thing in common.  The fish were glued to the bottom.  The fish didn't seem to care what the fly was as long as it was right on the bottom.  Getting my flies deep fast and keeping them there was definitely the way to go but I lost a ton to the stream bed.  I was already low on nymphs but my box is just about empty.  My anchor side actually has three # 10 Czechs and nothing else left. 

I was down around the big bluff when I started to hear an engine getting closer.  I turn downstream and see a flippin' jet boat barreling up the stream.  I don't think I've ever seen a jet boat that far up.  From what I hear the guy went all the way to Tan Vat.  The little stream didn't care too much for the boat either.  It really seemed to churn everything up.  The water got pretty foggy and took it's sweet time clearing up.  The fishing dropped right off the shelf too.  It was an easy decision to finally head back to the car and eat lunch.

There were a few caddis coming off in the late afternoon.  At first I wasn't really sure what they were, they were way too big to be the usual winter bugs.  Apparently the fish didn't expect caddis in December either because they sure didn't want to rise.  I half-assedly  tossed a few dries around the parking lot pool trying to get one up but couldn't find any takers. A bunch more people started showing up so I decided to call it a day at Baptist.  I headed up to Tan Vat to find a bunch of cars so I kept going.  There were a few cars parked at the end of Montauk's campground so I decided against that access too.  I really need to get a vehicle that sits more than two inches off the ground and start heading to the more "rustic" accesses.  I did sit and watch some fish rise at the park.  I somehow knew there'd be trout rising the one place we're not allowed to fish. 

It was time to hit the road and do my patented done fishing routine which consists of stopping in Rolla to eat dinner with my brother who goes to UMR (I refuse to say MST so don't bother correcting me), followed by fighting the urge to go 100 down highway 44, followed by fighting the urge to go 80 down highway 30.  There's only one exception to this routine and that's when I make the long drive down to Taneycomo.  This variation means dinner with my sister at MO State and not fighting the urge to speed.

Blog Note:  Instead of being a deadbeat blogger I plan on putting up more fly tying posts and maybe some gear reviews between my trip reports.  Considering the shape my nymph box is in I'd be expecting some nymphs first but I should slowly but surely get step by steps of my tried and trues.  In addition if I mention any flies or you see one in my pics just ask and I'll definitely be able to get a picture and recipe if not a whole SBS. 

Current River 9/27/2011

Access:  Baptist

Time:  9:00 AM-5:00 PM

Water:  Low and CLEAR

Weather:  70s, partly cloudy

Third time's a charm.  After trying to go twice last week I finally made it to the Current.  I guess they got tired of calling me in to work.  I pulled into Tan Vat to find a few too many cars so I headed to Baptist.  Only one other car at Baptist so I was good to go.  I ended up having the river more or less to myself.  

First fish of the day (size isn't everything)

The water was in classic Autumn shape, low and clear, actually ridiculously clear.  It was one of those days where you need your A-game.  For the most part, I've Euro-nymphed all year.  A more delicate approach seemed to be in order so I went the wet fly route. I caught one little rainbow right as my flies turned to start  to swing, but the rest took them dead drift.  I'm far from an expert on this but this is how I do it.  I basically break down the water into sections.  First I'll go straight upstream and raise my rod as they come back to keep decent contact with the flies but not so much that it messes the drift.  Then I'll cast up and across, then up and a little more across and so on until I'm more or less casting right across.  Once I'm casting more across than up I'll track the flies with my rod and let them drift past me.  Then I'll either swing out the drift or hand twist the flies back in, or both.  A long rod helps a lot.  I use a 10 foot 4WT.  Strike detection can be tricky when the flies are drifting.  I have a foot of hot orange mono built into my leader that helps.  I keep one eye on it and one eye on where the flies should be and set the hook at the slightest hint of anything.  Some days you're lucky and they strike hard,  Tuesday wasn't one of these days.  

Anyone know what this mayfly is?

There was all kinds of bug activity going on.  The olives were coming off a little in the morning until the sun scared them off.  There were also a bunch of little (about a #18) caddis around and also some very pale yellow mayflies that were in the #14-#16 range.  My bug Latin is a little lacking so I'm not sure what they were, but I did get a fuzzy picture.  Despite all these tasty morsels around risers were few and far between.  When I did find a rising fish it was generally taking the pale mayflies.  It's hard to pass up dry fly fishing so when I found a riser I'd switch out the wets for a dry.  I used CDC duns and a CDC and elk for the one that looked like it was taking caddis.  

I ended up catching five or six rainbows on dries.  Unfortunately when I'd find a rising fish it was always just that, one rising fish.  So after spooking or catching any risers I'd go back to wets.  Successful wets were split by species.  Every wet-fly caught rainbow took a Peter Ross I had at point.  Every single brown took a soft hackle of some kind.  I used lots of different softies but If memory serves me right a Partridge and Yellow worked best.  However, the big one took an Olive and Dun Spider. 

Working my way downstream I spotted a really nice brown.  It had spotted me too and had a case of lock jaw.  I made a mental note of it's location and kept fishing my way downstream.  On my way back upstream I was ready.  I retied all my knots just to be safe and waded into position as ninja-like as I could.  I couldn't quite see if the fish was still there but I was hopeful.  Getting a better look was out of the question as I would likely spook it again.  The clouds came and went all day, but it seemed like I was only catching fish when the sun was blocked.  So I stood there and waited for the clouds.  After who knows how long it was time to cast.  Miraculously, it landed right where I wanted it.  Even more miraculously I saw a golden flash and even more miraculously than that I didn't screw up the hook set.  It's nice when everything comes together.  I was in a great place to cast but a fairly crappy place to play a nice fish.  I got the fish on the reel then tried to keep it out of the nearby logjam while I waded to friendlier waters.  The fight was down and dirty but after a couple nice runs I got it into the net fairly quickly.  I snapped two quick pictures and let it go.  The fish shot right out of my hands immediately so it's safe to say it's still swimming around Baptist getting bigger.  This fish has definitely had a rough life.  It's jaw was deformed on one side and it had a nasty scar on it's snout.  It should be easy to pick out if/when it's caught again.

I couldn't think of a better way to end the day.  Despite not catching many fish I'd say it was a successful trip.  I was a little rusty on my wet fly skills but I'll probably get plenty more practice this fall.  Next time I head fishing I need to fight the urge to fish Baptist.  I'm in danger of getting stuck in a rut.  I might just go to a different river altogether.  Who knows, maybe I'll really change it up and go night fishing at Taney. 

Geezus Lizard Variation SBS

I tied these up for a fly swap and was asked for a step by step so here you go guys.  They look pretty intimidating but if you can make a dubbing loop you can tie these.  I will warn you that these eat up a lot of materials.  Bass love these flies and although I haven't tried them on trout yet I'm sure a big brownie would too.  I didn't get pictures of some of the easier steps so if anything's unclear just let me know.

Materials

Hook:  1/0 Mustad 90degree jig, a Gamakatsu would be better but expensive

Weight:  Medium dumbell eyes

Thread:  Uni 3/0 or your favorite heavy thread

Tail:  Crayfish Orange SLF, Rust Seal-Sub dubbing and Flor. Orange Rabbit from a zonker strip

(all in a furled dubbing loop)

Crayfish Orange Rubber Legs

Body:  Rabbit from a zonker in a dubbing loop

Topping:  Mini-Barred Marabou

Head:  Crystal Chenille

Step 1:  Start your thread and tie your dumbbell eyes with figure 8 wraps a little past the jig bend.  Then run a layer of thread to the bend.  I generally use size medium eyes.  Size large are OK but you might have to bust out the 8wt.

Step 2:  Now make a big dubbing loop.  You want it a little bit longer than double what your tail will be.

Step 3:  Get your tail materials ready.  You want two different colors for a banded effect.  If you want some flash use Ice Dub for one.  You also need a little strip of zonker for the tip, not even 1/4 inch.  I prefer a nice bright color.  The original used more dubbing but I like the wiggle from the rabbit.

Step 4:  Put your dubbing into the loop with the zonker strip at the halfway point separating them.  Clip the hide from the rabbit and spin the loop up TIGHT.  If you're not worried about your thread breaking it's not tight enough.  This will keep all the dubbing secure.  Keep tension on the loop.

Step 5:  Stroke the rabbit all to one side and grab it.  Keeping hold of the rabbit gradually bring your two colors of dubbing towards each other letting them furl onto each other.

Step 6:  This is what you end up with.  Instead of letting the loop as it is you want to clip it off and lash it back down.  This not only makes a more durable tail but allows you to adjust the length.  This is also a good time to brush out the dubbing with some Velcro. 

Step7:  You then want to tie a set of rubber legs on each side.  Just use one leg folded around the thread on each side.

Step 8:  Make another dubbing loop.  Then catch a length of zonker in a binder clip or Magic Tool if you have one.  Clip the hide away taking care to cut as close to the hide as you can.  This is going into the loop and will be the body.  The hide on zonkers absorbs a lot of water so this will cut down on that problem making it a little easier to cast.

Step 9:  Using the clip put the rabbit into your loop.  Let go of it with the clip.  Depending on how thick your rabbit is you might want to spread the fur out a little.  Spin the loop up nice and tight.

Step 10:  Wind your bunny loop up the shank stroking the hair back after each turn.  You want to end up just short of the eyes.  If your loop wasn't long enough just make another.  You could also do two different colors.  This one is Rust in the back and Crayfish Orange in front.  Tie on another set of rubber legs.

     Note:  The original has a shell-back made of Thin Skin that I generally omit.  I like the look of the rabbit all the way around and haven't noticed a difference as far as catching fish is concerned. 

Step 11:  Tie in your marabou topping.  It should go back a little past the end of the hook.

Steps 12-Finish:  I don't really show this but tie in a length of crystal chenille and wrap a head making sure to figure 8 around the eyes covering everything.  You could instead use one of your tail dubbings in a loop as the original does.  Either way tie it off, tidy up and whip finish.  These take some abuse so I usually do two whip finishes and then super glue the head.  If needed trim the rubber legs.

Odd Fishing Note:  If something goes wrong and the tail gets destroyed while fishing don't toss it out.  I had this happen and was planning on reusing the hook and eyes but it just sorta stayed in my box.  Long story short, I was smallmouth fishing and ran into a bunch of carp without anything "carpy" to throw at them.  I trimmed the legs a little shorter on my tail-less fly and  got a few of them to take my newly invented neutered carp lizard.

Current River 8/23-8/24 2011

Access fished:  Baptist, Tan Vat, right below Montauk

Time fished:  All day Tuesday and Wednesday morning

Flow:  110 cfs Tuesday, 115 cfs Wednesday

Water:  Gin clear

Weather:  Warm and sunny, big overnight storm

Hatch activity:  A.M. tricos,  mystery mayfly at dusk

Tuesday

Baptist

     I finally had some free time this week and spent it the best way I know, fishing the Current.  After furiously filling in the many holes in my fly boxes on Monday I was ready to go.  I arrived at ol' reliable Baptist early Tuesday morning, but not early enough.  The trico hatch was all but done.  Since I missed the tiny flies I decided to do the opposite and throw some big streamers.  I was quickly into a nice brown right at the tailout of the parking lot pool.  It nailed my waggy tail sculpin variation on the first strip.  It looked like I was in for some good streamer action.  Unfortunately I was wrong.  That brown was the last fish I would catch for 4+ hours.  I had tons of fish flash my flies and plenty of follows but no takes.
     After lunch it was high time to ditch the streamers.  I switched to my trusty 10ft. 4wt. and set off to go nymphing and finally got into some fish.  I used a #8 dronestone variation as anchor and a #16 quill nymph on a dropper.  That section down from the parking lot is almost tailor made for Euro-nymphing.  I was hardly knocking them dead but I found plenty of willing fish tucked in the rocky run.
     The highlight of this stretch was kind of funny.  I set the hook into what seemed like a really nice brown.  It felt really big and was doing the trademark brown down and dirty head-shaking fight putting a serious bend in my rod.  I get it in and find a 15 inch rainbow, not the two foot brownie I thought I had.  If anyone was around they probably thought I was crazy as I couldn't help but laugh at myself and the feisty rainbow in my net.  No one was,  the crowds were nonexistent.  I saw only one other person fishing and a single canoe all day.
     I had seen a few fish rising along the banks earlier and plenty of hoppers on the banks so I figured dry/dropper might work.  Plus it's a lot less labor intensive than what I was doing.  On the way way back to the car I fished a tan stimulator with that same olive quill nymph as earlier hung off the back.  The nymph received most of the attention but I did get two to come up and take the dry.  I was also very happy with how my nymph rod handled this rig.  It cast great and that extra foot made mending a snap.

Tan Vat

     I went to go set up camp at Montauk and then headed to Tan Vat.  I stuck with the dry/dropper set up but switched from the 10 footer to my normal rod.   Nothing special to report here.  I caught a few but none on the dry.  Most of them took a hare's ear I was using as a dropper after losing the quill nymph to a snag.  

Below Montauk

     After dinner I hustled down and out of the park to get a little more fishing in before dark.  The hole here seemed different than I remembered but I don't fish up by the park much.  Regardless it's quite the honey hole, shame it's so easy to get to.  There was a very sparse hatch coming off.  The bugs have me a little perplexed.  They were mayflies, about a size 16 or 18 and orange in color with cream wings.  They sure looked like sulphers, but those shouldn't be hatching this time of the year.  My dries were back at camp and the stimulator on my fly patch wasn't any kind of match so I went wet.  I've been really trying to hone in my wet fly skills anyways.  A #16 partridge and orange tied shortshank worked on the few risers.  I fished it upstream just under the surface picking up the rising fish.  They all turned out to be little park escapees but oh well.  I'm sure there were better fish deep but I'll never pass up an opportunity to fish anywhere near the surface.

     I had clear skies all day and it was a starry night when I went to bed but by midnight one hell of a storm rolled in.  The thunder woke me from my fishing induced coma.  I thought about making a run for my car and sleeping there but decided to stick it out in my tent.  Luckily I didn't float away and my tent didn't leak(props to Kelty).  Even more luckily my waders were hung upside down.  It would have been a bad morning surprise to find them filled with water.

Wednesday

Back to Baptist

     The morning was surprisingly chilly considering how hot it would get later.  The water was up a few inches from the storm but still crystal clear.  It actually seemed to drop all the way back down by the time I left.  Luckily I was up in time for the trico's.  I decided to go the wet route again.  I used a little black wet with an up wing (Clyde style, more or less) fished upstream.  It was a #20 dry hook, short black thread body, quill wing and a single turn of starling.  By the time the hatch petered out I'd caught a good number of rainbows and a single brown out of the pool.  I thought about trying streamers again but decided to nymph since I had to leave early.  The stone was the hot  fly the day before so, big surprise, I lost my last one right off the bat.  It didn't matter much as they were hungry.  A Vladi worm as anchor and a Frenchie on dropper did the trick.  I don't know the actual numbers but I think I caught as many Wednesday morning as I did all day Tuesday.  Shame I couldn't stay longer.

     I timed it pretty well though.  After getting my quality fishing time in I tore down camp double fast and headed back home with just barely enough time.  I had to be at work at four.  After getting home I had just enough time to unload the car, shave and shower.  If I had fished fifteen minutes longer I would have either been late or got pulled over on I-44 trying to make up time.  

     It ended up being a great trip.  The streamer fishing was crappy but that's usually hit or miss anyways.  Nymphing worked as usual and I even got a couple on a dry, not to mention the wets.  That possible sulphur hatch still has me confused but more than anything I'm ready for some fall hatches.  I just need to make sure I have some dries with me then.

Current River 7/9/2011

Access:  Baptist

Time Fished:  7:00 AM-3:00 PM

Weather:   Low 90's and sunny, morning fog

Flow:  115 cfs

Water:  Normal clarity

After spending way too much time fishing for bass and bluegill I finally got to go do battle with the trout......and the canoe hatch.  Speaking of hatches, the tricos  were hatching pretty strong in the morning although I didn't see any risers.  This might have been partly due to the layer of fog on the water hiding them but the trout do seem to ignore this hatch sometimes.  I actually considered the fog to be a bit of a blessing since it helped hide me from the fish's view.  I started out how I generally do at Baptist by Czech-nymphing the long run after the parking lot.  I generally do this more or less half sight and half feel but I couldn't see my sighter through the fog so it was all feel today.  I don't know if they were just really bite happy or I was "in the zone" but it went very well.  I caught quite a few rainbows, a few little wild ones, but no brownies at that point.  

By the time I got to the split the fog was starting to lift and the canoe hatch was on full blast, so it was time to sit on the bank and remember why I usually come down on weekdays.  None of them were too exciting, just a lot of "How's the fishing?".  Although one group seemed dead set to run into every piece of debris in the river and a little kid wanted to know if I was a "hillbilly".  Apparently his parents had warned him to watch out for hillbillies on the river.

I continued to catch nothing but rainbows all the way to the S-bend.  A few were nice including one fatty I caught at the split hole.  I hooked it on the right side and ended up landing the fish on the other side of the split.  At the bend I decided to switch up from the Czech set up to a frenchy leader.  At the beginning of the day I was catching almost everything on my anchor (a #8 Polish nymph) but as the sun kept rising I had more and more fish wanting the smaller flies I had as dropper.  The French set up is great for these smaller flies.  I used a #12 tungsten beaded hare's ear (tied on a jig hook) as my point fly for the rest of the day.  I'm really starting to like these jig nymphs since they don't get hung up on the bottom as easily.  I ran various smaller nymphs as my dropper.  Fishing stayed pretty consistent the rest of the day.  I'd wade a leader's length down, work the water up and across towards the bank and then wade another leader down.  Eventually, I finally got into a few browns.  None of the browns were of very good size but I did catch some nice rainbows.

There were a few memorable moments.  One was what could of been my first ever double.  I briefly had one on each fly.  I realized this a couple seconds before the one busted off my dropper.  There was one other fish that I can't get out of my head;  it got away of course.  I was working an undercut when my sighter just barely twitched.  I set the hook into something big.  After putting all the pressure my 4wt and 5X tippet could handle I finally got it close enough to see.  HUGE BROWN!  It definitely would of been my personal best.  Once it saw me the fish decide to get the hell out of there.  It took off downstream while I frantically tried to stop it and  about the time I started to see backing on my reel there was nothing at the end of my line.  I'm not  going to say where I hooked it but rest assured I'm going to hammer that spot from now on.

I got almost all the way to Ashley Creek before I decided to head back up.  I thought more about the ice cold cooler waiting for my at the parking lot than fishing but I still caught a few on my way back.  It was easily my best day as far a numbers go this year.  The canoe armada was pretty big but luckily they almost all came at about the same time.  The afternoon lock jaw wasn't that bad either.  It just required a change in tactics and some smaller more drab flies.  All in all it was a great day.

Farm Pond Largemouths

For Father's Day me and Dad fished a lake his boss owns. Up until five years ago this was a Christmas tree farm. Ever since they replaced the trees with wheat I've noticed the fishing has went way downhill. There's still plenty of fish but lunkers are few and far between these days. I'd say the 14 pounder I caught in high school will stay my record for this lake. Almost everyone allowed to fish the lake goes for catfish so bass are pretty gullible. Also, I'm reasonably sure I'm the only person to ever fly fish here. Catching them here is pretty straight forward. You either fish the weed bed in the one end and lose a few flies or fish the deeper corner which is full of sunken Christmas trees and lose tons of flies. Recent rain rose the lake up putting a good foot of water between the surface and cover. I fished the weedy corner mostly with a deer hair diver. The trick was twitching it under and letting it sit and wait for a bass to fly out of the weeds after it. I'd catch one about every third cast, only a couple of them were decent size. The catfishing did't go as well for Dad but we did get enough for dinner.

Dad

Dad waiting for the catfish to bite

Time to head home

Current River Fishing Report 05/17/2011

River:  Current

Access Fished:  Baptist

Time Fished:  7AM-3PM

Weather:  Sunny and 70

Water:  Up and off color

Flow:150cfs

Fished the Current yesterday to celebrate my birthday and to see how the flood effected the river.  I caught quite a few including a nice brown around 17 inches all by either Czech-nymphing while going downstream or French-nymphing on my way back up.  Interestingly every brown I caught took a #16 biot nymph which I somehow managed to not lose the entire day.  The rainbows mostly took my anchors which I lost a lot of to the stream bottom.  For anchors I was using either a jig hook cased caddis I tie, woven polish nymphs or a rubber leg stone with a tungsten bead and a half ton of lead, depending on the water.  It's changed quite a bit, so here's a hole by hole of what I noticed.

Parking Lot

This is about the only place I didn't get pictures so you'll have to take my word for it.  The first thing I noticed is the little rock dam at the edge of the hole was gone resulting in a far less sudden change to the fast run past here. Most of the beach is gone making the hole wider.  The bend pool looked a lot deeper but I couldn't be 100% sure.
The long run after the parking lot seemed pretty much the same.  There's few fallen trees but nothing in the way.  It may have been moving a little slower than it used to if anything.  It fished great and I picked up a fish every ten yards or so.

First Deep Hole

Coming into the first of the deeper holes has changed.  Its still shallow coming in but it splits a lot better than it used to.  I Czech nymphed the chutes on both sides of the island picking up a fish on each side.  Best of all you no longer have to bushwhack or hug the bank to get through here anymore.  The tree on the bank is gone altogether.   The actual pool is still nice and deep and stays fairly deep along the far bank going into the next hole.

Second Deep Hole

   This spot was DEEP.  I pretty much had to stay on the bank.  The problem was it stayed deep till about where the shortcut trail comes in(by the old tire).  I think I could of went by staying close to the bank but the stream bed was unstable and there was  debris in the way so I decided it was lunch time.

Shortcut Trail

After lunch I took the shortcut down river.  The run where the trail comes out was about waist deep and moving fairly swift.  I caught a couple of rainbows out of here and moved on after quickly getting tired of wading waist deep in quick water.

S-Bend

Coming into the S-bend was shallow and a lot easier to wade in than before.  The bend starts out the same with the deep water on the outside.  It doesn't effect fishing but the sand bar looked like someone took an eraser to it; not so much as a leaf of grass growing.

The outside bank got pushed out a little the whole way around.  After about the middle of the bend there's a lot of down timber on the far bank.  The leaves by the bank are also finally gone. 

 The end of the bend is the biggest change.  There's all kinds of dead fall blocking where I used to cross and it looked deeper so I had to plot a new route.  Luckily going into the left turn isn't like it used to be.  I actually waded right down the middle never going past knee deep.

The above picture was taken in the middle of the turn and you can see how shallow it is in the corner.  From here to the horseshoe bend it stays fairly deep and steady.  This section should be good for some nice long drifts.  I can see people really cleaning up indicator fishing it. 

Horseshoe Bend

Horseshoe bend/ big bend/ whatever you want to call it changed a lot.  I couldn't see anywhere to cross easily so my plans of fishing to Ashley creek went out the window.  I do think that once the river drops and the stream bed  isn't as shifty you should be able to cross right through the bend.  There's a ton of debris in the water here.  I can't wait to hook into something nice here and try to keep it out of the timber.

The future resting place of thousands of flies.

You can see how the outside bank got pushed out.  The outside of the bend is now fairly shallow making it a good spot to wade when fishing the middle of the bend.  The inside of the bend also looked shallow so assuming we don't get a bunch more rain I think this will be the spot to cross.  

I wish I could of went further but from what I could see the next section looked like it could be interesting.  I you look closely you'll notice a tree spanning the river right after the bend.  I'm surprised they didn't clear it but it's plenty high so canoes  could go right under it.

Overall the fishing was pretty good.  They were hugging the bottom so nymphing worked good.  I wish I could of done some streamer fishing but I left my box of them on my tying desk.   It was kind of tricky getting around at times but by the end of the summer we should have it figured out.  If you do go down soon bring a wading staff.  There were a couple of times I would of traded a kidney for one.  The flood didn't make the river better or worse, just different.