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Right now, a lot of our mountain streams look like they're running chocolate milk instead of the normal crystal clear water. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure that the fish are still in there somewhere. (They don't crawl out on the bank and wait for the water to clear up, do they?) My question is this. Where do the fish go when the water turns muddy and milky, and is it still possible to catch them? It may be a few weeks before the water flows go down, and I'd like to go stream fishing before then. What kinds of flies or baits should I use, and where should I fish--in still pools, along the bottom of the stream, in the stronger current? I would love to hear from anyone who has experienced success fishing under "chocolate milk" conditions.
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My dad used to look forward to this time of year to fish steams. I thought he was nuts until he showed me how to do it and then amazed me with phenomenal results. We then worked out our technique together during the high flow years of the 80's. We found that the fish are in the smallish pools and eddies along the bank. The muddy water allows a close approach and if you can keep a low profile, you can drop bait right into an appetizing pool. With muddy water, the fish sometimes take a minute or two to bite, so leave the bait in there for a while. We used to use worms, but I have also had success using spinners in murky conditions. The fly rods stayed home at this time of year. The biggest challenge in learning how to fish high water is hole recognition. Some obscure eddies along the bank would be ignored by the uninitiated, but would hold nice fish.
One last thing, BE CAREFUL! I almost drowned once in the Weber trying to untangle a 20+ inch brown from a bush being swept away in the floodwater.
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I asked this same question a little while ago, and I got pretty much the same answer: the fish are there, you just have to find them. I still can't believe that fish are that tough. However, people much more wise in the fishing world have confirmed that fish can survive the torrential currents. Just be careful.
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I have fished Hobble Creek all my life, and I found that a worm or black rooster tail with silver spoon works great in all the slow pockets. They may be far and in between but they are there and so are the fish.
Good luck.
Law
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I believe the maneuver you refer to is called the "San Juan shuffle". When I was a kid my dad and I saw a flyfisherman doing this in the Provo River near Vivian Park, kicking up rocks and mud as he went. My dad told me it was illegal to do so. I don't remember ever reading in the proclamation that this is illegal, but it does seem a little unsportsmanlike to me, specially if it's between November and March when the browns have eggs in the gravel.
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I actually look forward to fishing the high muddy run off water in small creeks or rivers. It is some of my favorite fishing. Especially during the full moon - like this past weekend.
I was just at Current Creek this weekend fishing in chocolate coloured water - It was high run-off. I was fishing the eddies behind the rocks and small pockets of water that form along the banks where the fast water and slow water create eddie or backwash seams.
The artificials I used(artificial section of creek) were a Bright red San Juan worm with a bead head, a bright flashy tungston bead head nymph, and 1/32 ounce marabou jig and a size 1 black and yellow spotted Panther Martin spinner. Of course, the use of naturals for bait would work where appropriate and legal.
I use a variety of presentation techniques depending on several factors(far too many to list here) - the place, currents, the possible approaches, and of course the type of bait/lure/fly.
These days when I fish(most often I have 2 hounds with me), I scout the water first and find the exact place I want to fish, then I rig for that specific place - I always try to bring several different types of rigging so I can adjust to the place I find. It takes more time, but that is what I am there for. Sometimes I even hike back to camp or the vehicle to re-rig then return with tackle or gear reinforcements - there are even times when I make an all day expedition of fishing in one single specific spot on a creek.
However, most folks do it like I used to. Rig one time and go find all the places that rig works or can be sort of made to work and fish them. I did catch more fish that way because I covered more water, but I now catch the fish I want to catch - and they are generally better fish.
For me, it's not really how many fish I catch, but, how many ways I can do it.
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