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As the days get longer and we begin to see temperatures stay above freezing, we have seen the river begin to swell with the early stages of spring runoff this week. The small storm expected early next week will only slightly delay this and around the middle of the week we will be right back to warmer weather which should continue this trend
What does this mean for the fishing? Well, at first you might think it would make fishing the rivers more difficult, and in some ways it does. But what runoff can also do is move the biggest fish out of their favorite lies as the water conditions change and the current increases. When this happens, these fish are forced to look for any suitable slow water where they aren’t working too hard to feed, often this suitable water will be close to the bank and out of the main current in the middle of the river. Another fun part about fishing during spring runoff is that you can now change your bug selection and try using attractor nymphs such as stoneflies, worms, eggs, crawdads or swinging streamers and leave the zebra midges and BWO emergers in the fly box, and don’t forget to upsize your tippet as well! We love spring fishing in the Sierra and we encourage you to put in a good effort of fishing this time of year as our low snowpack will likely limit fishing opportunities later in the season.
With the flows on the river in an upward trend, conditions are changing on a daily basis and adjusting tactics may be necessary from day to day or even over the course of your outing. Adding more and more split shot and fishing more attractors and less smaller bugs will be the name of the game over the coming weeks as both the water flows and the water temps rise, and the fish really begin to put on the feed bags. Look for areas of soft water where fish can sit out of the main current and feed without putting in too much effort. Walking or jogging pace water, and in particular behind boulders or drop offs where a cushion of slower water can be found.
The Glenshire stretch seems to be running mostly clear as of now and using small bugs up this way may remain necessary, but the lower river below the Boca confluence will be a different story. Attractors fished under an indicator or tight line set up well be a great way to find fish right now, and we expect the dry fly bite to get less productive as flows come up and the water gains some color, but the deep pools may still see some action on hatches of midges, Skwalas and BWO’s for the adamant dry fly angler, and a Skwala dry with a dropper can still be an excellent way to fish those soft edges during runoff.
