Latest Conditions & Fishing Report for Cheesman Canyon-February 17, 2019
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”15″ display=”basic_thumbnail”]Good Morning All!
Man that’s difficult! Waking into Cheesman Canyon and only taking my camera! Time restraints keeping me from fishing, but if I were you, I’d be in the Canyon! This approaching front has got the fish fired up! Just took a nice little walk with the dog and spoke with three Anglers that already had between 3-8 in the net! Small midges, leeches, eggs, and worms as attractor bugs! 6x & 7x Tippet. Conditions are perfect right now, calmest winds of the week, temps only pushing 30, but it’s warm in the sun! Flows remain at 59 cfs. below the dam, with about 60-65 cfs. through Decker’s and Trumbull. Oh! Here’s a bit of information I’d like to share! If you get here and realize you’ve forgotten something crucial to your fishing day, don’t fret! Flies and Lies, located in the Decker’s Resort, at 8570. S.Hwy.67, has everything you’ll need and then some. They have recently added a large amount of new gear, flies, and much more to their store! As far as the fishing this past week, it was pretty fantastic fi you could deal with the wind. With the increase in temperatures, we saw a great portion of the lower river, areas from nighthawk and up to the “WIRE”, freed of a large portion of ice, opening up mores area to fish. These sections of the river are usually great places to fish the first couple of days after a melt-off , With the absence of Anglers and the abundance of food being released from the melting ice. the fish tend to be active in these sections of the river. Flow all week, as they have been for several now, are between 59 cfs. in the Canyon, with 60-70 cfs. through Decker’s and Trumbull. Most of my focus, as you would expect or not, has been in the Canyon. Having access to this World Famous stretch of tail-water at my fingertips, is truly a blessing. To be able to walk out the door and be fishing the Canyon in 5 minutes or less, is truly a blessing. I’m grateful for the opportunity to call Cheesman Canyon, “the back yard.” Earlier in the week we woke up each day with winds that were howling by 8 or 9, with 15-30 mph wind gusts, providing a serious challenge to both fishing and comfort! This pattern continued through Friday, with periods of overcast and sun. Spending quite a bit of time between the Ice Box and Cow’s Crossing, I’ve covered quite a bit of water this past week. Passing up on the somewhat active fish in near the fence hole and family hole, I tried to focus on the faster moving water, with deeper runs and pocket pools, those with a decent flow. Making a couple of runs above and below rocks or medium size boulders has also proven quite effective,with the addition of a little nymping mud to my rig, in order to get me down faster in the shorter, deeper runs. The other major change I’ve made this winter, has been my recent effort to consistently use flies in the size #24-#30 range! Yes, size #30! A friend of mine gave me a few of these a few weeks ago, and it’s been a game changer for me in the Canyon. He’s ties a a couple of the g0-to Canyon bugs, such as the Top Secret midge, three colors of RS-2’s
Chef Chris
