Hit the big feeder canal this afternoon for a couple of hrs. Did really well fishing nymphs with an indicator. Nothing big but 11 fish -split between cuts / browns. Just nice to throw the fly rod again.[fishon]
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Please excuse my ignorance, as I have never fished any of the canals. For some reason I have pretty much thought that most of the canals were on private ground, and not something you could wade or float, so how and where do you fish them? Are there a lot of accesses or is there a corridor access that crosses the private ground? Something like a canal right of way along the sides? Just how does this work? Thanks!
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Also where is the "Big Feeder Canal"? I can see Dry Beds on the maps is it part of it?
Thanks, sorry for all of the questions.
Congratulations on a nice day of fishing. It is great to get out. Hopefully the weather will get even better and the outings with a fly rod more frequent!
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The feeder canel is the same as the dry bed. . It is on private property but from what I have always been told if you can stay below high water mark you are good to wade and fish float and the likes. It is very good fishing and it has plenty of access points. PS. land owners do get cranky but thats because they like to push there weight and dont know the laws. I grew up fishing it and it produces nice fish.
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Ironrod how do you rig your nymph rig? I am assuming that you are using rubberlegs and getting the flies down deep. Am i correct or are you doing something different
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So I guess you mostly fish the canals in the irrigation "off season" when there is less water in them? Dry Beds on Google Earth looks like a river. Very interesting!
Thanks for the info!
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The dry bed is larger then some streams that they call rivers yes, but it gets turned out every April for repairs and what not. So in a sence it is just a very large canal that feeds a bunch of other canals in the valley. As for fishing I normally start to fish it right before the hoppers come out in the summer and it usually is good until it freezes up in the winter. Fun and when the river has a ton of people on it you can bet that the dry bed has great fishing and alot fewer people.
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I caught an 8 pound brown right below the head gates last September.
We fish the dry bed several times every year.
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Ok- like others have said, dry beds=big feeder. Sorry, I've fished those for over 30 yrs and started with my grandpa. The Eagle Rock, Farmers Friend, Harrison....all names of canals.
As for this fishing trip- I didn't walk in anywhere on someone's property-just have to know the roads to get you to the public access. All I can say is you have to go up there and spend a little time. LOTS of big fish are caught on ALL canals in the fall.
I fished both a bead-head pheasant tail and also a prince nymph. Both were only fished 24" below my indicator. Small split shot about 8" above the top fly. Indicator would NOT go under-just hesitate. I missed a number of other hits.
This time of yr the only canal that has the water is the dry bed/big feeder. Search for larger pools and hit the top or bottom end. Fish are easy to spook since the water is shallow so unless you want to really "put them down" you need to use a little stealth.
I start fishing the canals in June- river is still running too high and by this time some nice fish have entered them. The hoppers are the easiest fly to fish them-don't be afraid to stop as EVERY corner where the water comes close to the road- you'll either catch or miss a fish on almost every bend[cool]!
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Thanks! [
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You could zig zag your way over the roads near the canal for 50miles at least. [shocked]
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That figures about the time Colton and I give up on the Big Feeder you go out and rock em. We fished it last weekend and caught one fish. We went to Springfield this weekend with the toones instead and did OK.
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Fished the South Fork just above the feeder canal on saturday and did pretty good as well using brown rubber legs and a hare's ear. interesting that the rubber legs produced 5 brown trout and the hare's ear produced 7 white fish.
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yea those whities love the hares ear! I was actually fishing downstream a few miles-not right there by the gates.
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