Fishing Forum

Any water reports for Warm River? I'm sure it's a bit high, hopefully not really muddy, but I'm not sure. Haven't ever been up that way this early in the year.

Going to bring my fly rod and give it a shot - tips on flies to use would be awesome. I tried the fly fishing thing for the first time last night and I'm stoked to try it again. I honestly can't tell you what fly I was using at Shelley Pond last night, but I had two really decent casts that fish responded to, and the first one I was just happy something came up to eat the fly so I completely forgot about setting the hook. Second one I reacted too soon. But yeah, I'm sure I'm still casting completely incorrectly but there is definitely improvement.

Thanks guys.
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On Saturday evening I fished Warm River from Bear Gulch down a couple of miles. The water is high, but still wadeable and it's surprisingly clear. I saw no signs of salmon flies, but there was a mighty hatch of some small tan gnats (technical term for bugs observed by a spincaster).

The catching was OK (~10), but the best part was that I didn't see another soul in four hours of fishing.

Hope your weekend is enjoyable.
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I wasn't expecting clear. Thanks for the input!
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Elk hair caddis and other stimulator fly patterns are a good place to start for top water. Easy to see and the fish up there love them. Im sure sonething like a parachute adams would work great too. Underwater a rubber legs and a hares ear nymph work great! The warm river is a fun place to fly fish. You should be able to pick up some fish there even if you are just learning.
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My favorite is the Royal Wulff. The Renegade is another good one. Neither of those really mimick anything in particular so can be used when you don't see the fish feeding and are both very easy to see. Looks like a big treat to the fish.
My grandpa used to say you only need 4 flys. He also only really fished one area and was around when you go spear the Salmon around Stanley when they ran. An Adams, Renegade, Wooly Worn, and one more. I bet it was a Royal Coachman but not sure. A Royal Wulff is essentially a Roayl Coachman with hair for wings instead of feathers so more visible to you and more durable. I have probably more than 50 types of flies in my boxes and bet I only use about 6-7 or so on a regular basis, Stimulators and Elk Hair Caddis being two of them.
Warm River is great for the kids. Great place to camp and innertube.
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When I was up there yesterday, the water seemed a little higher and less clear. It was definitely very muddy. Fishing was slow as well. I used worms for the most part.
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I wish it would stop raining. I've heard from a couple sources know that Warm River is blown out pretty well, and that's no bueno. Crossing my fingers that it improves some by the weekend.
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Fishing went well, except for the kids not catching any, but they weren't really all that excited to throw a line in. Weight and a worm really wasn't the way to do it on the river with how high and fast it was. Water visibility wasn't as good as I had seen it in the past, but you could still see down to the bottom, was just a little bit murky.

I tried the fly thing, but didn't wade at all. Still not really all that confident in my ability there...so many things to juggle. Didn't catch anything, and my cast still needs a lot of work. Didn't see many fish hitting the surface and can't say I noticed much in the way of hatches. I either need to figure out a better place for a beginner to fish, practice more, or just tough through it and stop doubting myself! I'm sure a few classes might be appropriate as well, lol.

On to the report. Fishing was great for me on Friday, caught around 8 and hooked into 11 total. These fish aren't that much bigger than the ones in Birch Creek, but they have a whole lot more fight in them! Catching was fun. Saturday they just didn't want to bite for me, but my buddy pulled in probably 10 fish in a 45 minute period of time on a regular old gold spoon. I threw a gold spoon in and they just laughed at me. I ended up catching 3 on Sat.

Caught this on a Mepps Aglia that came in a little kit I got my son for his birthday. He was nice and let me use it .
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This is one of several I caught on a fluorescent yellow, almost chartreuse spoon with red dots, also one I borrowed from my son. I lost the lure, so I owe him. Biggest fish I saw pulled out
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This one is my favorite. He bit on a homemade lure I made out of a bottle cap. We bought some pineapple Smirnoff for no reason other than the bright yellow caps. Punch holes in the cap on opposite sides, start a fold right in half, dump in three or four BBs, fold it all the way and stick some split rings and a hook on. As for the fish, spotting looked pretty cutt like to me but I wasn't able to see any slashes. I wanted to keep him, the kids love fish, but I threw him back to be on the safe side.
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I included this one mainly to show off how pretty it ended up being Friday / Saturday in the face of bad weather predictions. My son ready to assist in the catching process with my friend's fiance.
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Overall, it was a good time. The folks camping next to us hit their limits by going across the river and using spoons right off the bottom. They were done by noon, and picked up their ladies and kids and helped them bag another dozen. There was definitely a good amount of catching going on. Saw some folks fly fishing, but I can't say I saw them hook into anything.

My theory on Saturday is that there were so many people hitting the water that the fish kind of scattered, most of them straight to the opposite bank from the campground. Didn't think about it until mid-day Saturday, but it was free fishing day, which explains a lot. In any case, the water on the other side looked a lot more fish friendly with some eddies, small diversions and a lot of structure.

Sunday was a mess and we didn't fish at all. Rain started around 2am Sunday, which is when I decided to hit the sack, and hadn't let up by the time we left at 11:30. Around 10:30 I decided it was time to pack up, wet or not. Was just miserable. I guess that worked out anyway, checkout time was noon.
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Looks like you did great. The bottle cap idea is creative. I always like to go to the wooden dock with my kids. Throw a worm and marshmellow below a barell sinker up by the small falls.

Windriver
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