I am pleased to report that plenty of trout survived the flood of Aug. 2010. Last night on an evening outing she gave up a number of fish from 4″ to 14″.Water clarity and levels were perfect. Bloody Prince Nymph/flashback pheasant tail combination was all you needed to catch fish.

The humidity was high as I made my trek into the lower Kinni last night. I checked the water level and clarity at F bridge just to make sure I was not disappointed before making a long hike into the middle of the lower river. At F bridge I found various Items stuck in trees, bushes and matted down vegetation. I found pieces of old dinner plates and a exploded television, beer cans and a “For Sale by Owner” sign perched perfectly on top of a plastic chair. How much would you pay? These Items were left there by the high water that swept through the valley just a week ago.

The water on the Kinni is in great shape. There is almost a glacial tint to the water and the rocks are scoured clean. Weeds! What weeds? I nymphed all evening and never fouled my hook with weeds. There seems to be a bit of extra flow and the water seems deeper. Flows are steady at about 100cfs so that would make sense.

The bank vegetation is matted for now and will definitely make walking easier for the near future.

The bugs, I am not sure about the bugs. There were no bugs in the air last night except a few gnats and mosquitoes. My guess is that the scouring of the river decreased the bug population for now. I think the fish will be more likely to swipe at our artificial imitations since there is less in the river to eat. That is just a guess. Trout fishing is rarely easy. The takes last night were all over the board. Some aggressive, some very subtle. I was fishing a #10 Tung Head Bloody Prince to get down in the fast water and trailing a #20 flashback P. tail. I only targeted the fast water. When the water flattened out, I got a few hits on my strike indicator. They probably would have taken dries if I would have changed patterns.

Good Luck!

On a side note: Volunteers needed for work on Hay Creek this Saturday, August 21st! Work will begin 9:30am and will include seeding and mulching. Please let Michelle at michelle@twincitiestu.org know if you can make it out.

Thank you,

TCTU

Can anyone tell me what this is? It almost glowed in the darkness as I walked out last night? It was startling in the darkness.