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Shocking,,,,,,,,, on our local trout streams by the DNR has mostly finished up for the year and there is some good and bad news as expected. In summary, this is what it looks like.

Young of year(YOY)-These are the little 3, 4, 5″ guys and gals that are out eating in force right now. They are the trout of the future, and it looks like it is one of the best hatch years on record for the these little guys. By “hatch”, I mean that conditions in the fall/winter of 2014/15  were optimal for the hatching and fostering of our little trout. It is believed that the floods from 2014 spring/summer helped give us the strong ground water recharge to enable these baby wild trout to nurture. Most likely those same floods and previous drought was responsible for some trout mortality as well. Remember our buddies EBB and Flow. Reasonable winter temps and conditions, and lack of giant spring run off events this year also played a part in the health and strength of the growing boy and girl trout in the river.  YOY’s are probably the most vulnerable, and big natural(floods/droughts) events can inflict serious damage to these populations. The future looks bright and bushy tailed!

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6 to 10″- Numbers are low low low. These are the village idiot trout and usually make up the bulk of our trout population. As a trout guide these are the fish that make me look like I know what I am doing in the catching game. They tend to be more cooperative to eating our imitations. This is the group that has been responsible for our traditionally high fish counts and our status as some of the most fertile trout streams in the nation. When this group is missing it makes catching overall more difficult and rings the alarm that something has changed. Look for padding your statistics with high catch rates to off for the next two years. Trout catching will probably be less for the next two years.

Quality Trout >12″-In this category, the numbers are up. When trout reach this stage in our streams, I believe they are harder to catch than the previous group. Obviously there are less of them in the population pyramid.  They are older and wiser and more wary. You have already caught these fish when they were youngsters and they want little to do with hook and line. There feeding habits, locations and demeanor is likely different. These are our prizes and all of us hope to find the WALTER of our dreams, but lets face it, we would like it to happen more often. Spend more time on the water, these fish are there you just have to be crafty, maybe walk a little further, change your habits from the usual, fish at other time than mid afternoon. I have seen some great quality fish this year.

There you have it for part one! Now a stream report. 

Waters are clear and spooky. Anglers, you are exposed!  Poor stealth, casting and timing will make catching even tougher than it is already. Keep moving, try different types of water. I have been covering a lot of ground with clients in order to find active fish during the day time. Many times it is one pool, slot, boulder or riffle holding 5 or 6 active fish that will make the day. Many of my old favorite spots are not producing fish on a regular basis. Dry fly fishing has been as tough as I have seen it in recent years. Some are finding tricos on the upper sections of rivers. Last night, I saw(or should say heard) a few rises after the cover of darkness was thick but no where near like in past years.  The recent high water events have also produced some new holding areas. Go find them!  Explore, adventure to a new spot, fish at dark or into dark, smear your entire body with fish scent, just do! Change is!

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Dog days are here! Only a month and a half left to the season. Get out and fish,

This is Pizmo. He is a 5 month old and likes to shred stuff that doesn’t belong to him.  He was just a visitor at the Roth house for a few weeks, we miss him and all of his puppyness.