Early March Fishing Report
By: Warren DeMark
Greetings from the Canyon! I’ve been watching the lodge for the past week as Craig and Becky are on the show trail. They are currently in Costa Mesa, California as I type this, meeting new guests and catching up with old friends. While they are hard at work, I have the difficult job of early spring fishing. It is unseasonably warm, the river is fishing great, and I didn’t see another angler on the water during my last outing. Miserable, I know. All joking aside, the warming weather has made for some great fishing opportunities lately.
While air temps are trending upwards, water temps are slow to catch up. Water temps are between 34-35 degrees as of today, which means the fish are still fairly lethargic. This doesn’t mean that they won’t eat a well presented fly though. As for insect life, the only hatch is midges, and they are not abundant enough yet to result in dry fly opportunities worth pursuing. Dredging streamers on the bottom can turn up a few bigger fish, as can swinging flies in slower runs. But the most productive fishing right now is the nymph game.
The nymphing lately has been pretty effective, with lots of fish being caught on the normal early spring fly selection. Big pink scuds, tiny sowbugs, and small zebra midges have been the ticket lately, with most fish preferring the smaller zebra midge as the second fly in a tandem rig. With cold water temps, depth matters. Fish are not quite venturing out of their winter haunts yet, so targeting deep, slow pools is very effective. Look for lots of water funneling into one lane flowing into a deep pool, and try to get the longest drift possible. When you're fishing these waters, make sure to set on any little movement of the indicator. Even if it slightly twitches or dips, set. Slow water + Lethargic fish = Subtle takes. Once you get an eat in a run like this, keep fishing it, you probably found a honey hole.
Fishing will continue to improve as temperatures rise and we inch closer to April and May. The midge hatch will also improve throughout March and into the middle of April. The spring is a great time to be here, April and May are some of my favorite months to be on the water. Go check out my blog about spring fishing if you haven’t read it yet, it's a good look into how the fishing can be in April and May. While it's nice to get some fishing of my own done, I’m looking forward to our season starting and getting back on the river with some old friends and new guests. It’ll be April before we know it.