The fish are in close at the ‘Mid, and by close I mean at your feet if you are ladder fishing. Fish are definitely in spawn phase and are showing all the characteristics. You might find your self in a position where you may have a record fish day by the sight of these fish, but you must understand what this behavior really means for fly fishing strategy. Those up close and personal fish are regarded to as “zombies” and may be tough to coax. What you want to do is reach beyond those living dead fish to get to the fish you CAN’T see. These cutthroats spawn in cycles, so that means for every fish not feeding you will probably find an equal amount that are feeding. You are going to want to favor the strip right now, and we would suggest using bright patterns such as white leeches, chartreuse clousers, or the hot ticket right now which is our “Popcorn Yak”. Trail a beetle behind this and you have a winning combo. We have been loving the Loop 7X and Loop Q Switch rods with the Evotec 105 sink line to reach out and celebrate with Rick James…if you know what that means, great! If not, reach out and we will explain. 

Good luck on the ‘Mid, and if you need some guidance on the best combos and rigs we got you covered! Just drop us a note!

Contact BearFish Alliance at (775) 622-2970 or email nico@bearfishalliance.com