How to Approach your August Fishing Day
No longer do you have to get up early for the summer fishing session.
Nope. You can sleep a bit longer as the days get shorter, the nights cooler. Daytime water temps are between 63F-66F. Water flows are higher than the last month at 4500cfs.
Make a plan. That is always the first part of my thinking as I always try to put together a successful day. Between 7 and 8 am is your start time. Are you gonna Head Hunt right away? Or toss the nymph for a bit then switch to the hopper? At least a loose plan is always the best way to making sure the net gets wet a couple times during the day.
Weeds? Yes. Here and there. More there, and more here? And, some places somewhat void of weeds. They will go away in a month, or two, or three, or not. Again I will state, if you don’t weeds, fish elsewhere. We can give you some recommendations…or come back in October.
Hopper or Ant? Many are throwing the attractor dry fly all day long. Pink and purple are hoppers that are always fishy! And this year is no different. Green, tan, and yellow are also players. Fish your favorite first! Always. Find moving water. Fishy, moving, riffle water will hold them. Banks? Sure. Seamlines? Yep. Pond water? Nope. Fish the moving stuff, with all disciplines in this late August fishing period.
Zirdle down the Middle. Many are dredging and jigging the Zirdle, or Crayfish, down the middle of the river in the deepest slot(s). OK to make it move. OK not to be drag free. Although dragging, and jigging, are two different motions. Come in and we will show you the way to rig, and fish this Mo River summer method. Tie on a mayfly dropper too. Or Zirdle/Crayfish combo.
Headhunters Unite. Not a ton of Mayfly action out there. Not a ton of Caddis or hopper either. But, you can hunt them up. They are rising, sort of. We will tell you that the dry fly bite is not very good. A not so good August period this year. Trico’s went away pretty quick. Localized hatches, and spinner falls do occur. Local knowledge is good. Find a knowledge base and quiz them. Caddis OK in some regions as well. Upper river is the key for this behavior. Maybe the dam reach is the best? Yes, nymphers are not doing as well on the upper, so the dry fly anglers can find a few with relatively few anglers rowing in circles around them. Clusters, singles, caddis downwind patters will work.
Dry and a Dropper? You bet. You like big dry fly on the top followed by a small sinky wet fly on the bottom. A good time of year to empty this technique. A big Parachute Adams followed by an unweighted Sow Bug? Wow! A killer combo for the Autumn period. Which is forthcoming I will add. September is a great nymph month, a poor dry fly month, but not bad for the Dry/Dripper combo. Yes, dripper. I think a dropper is lower int eh water column, a dripper is near the surface? My own thinking there, but I like it, and I write this blog…so put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Short Leash? Not as many using this famous Mo River Technique. Forthcoming. But give it a shot if you wish. The weed mass at many water column levels will keep this rig not producing, but catching weeds by the boatload. But toss the Zirdle and Company shorter in faster waters and this can work.
Streamer Chuckers quietly smiling. Those who can handle the weeds, shake of pop them off with the Mo River Weed Snap…a hauling motion at the right moment as the flies come through the last millimeter of waters, the cohesion grabs the weeds, and leaves them in the water column. Tossing the flash is cool. Those with high end casting skills accompanied by youth and strong arms and joints, will find themselves smiling. Superior skill sets are super stylie.
Fishing is a game. A problem, to figure out. A conundrum sometimes. That is what drives us, the angler, is figuring out the fishing equation. Yep.
And that is your August mid month review and primer. Open daily 6-6. See us when you are in Craig for shuttles, flies, fishing stories, info, and cell service…
