Q:What do you do when the river is blown out ?
Q:How and where do you catch the big fish on Slaty?
These are a couple of very common questions ! Here are my answers ....
The what to do part is easy , you fish :) ! High brown water can be "money" once you adjust your thinking a bit . Trout fishermen by and large believe almost universally that brown water = trout can't see = waste of time . Nothing could be farther from the
truth ! The most predictable "best time" to chase the biggest trout in the river is when the river is trashed ....
Q:How and where do you catch the big fish on Slaty?
These are a couple of very common questions ! Here are my answers ....
The what to do part is easy , you fish :) ! High brown water can be "money" once you adjust your thinking a bit . Trout fishermen by and large believe almost universally that brown water = trout can't see = waste of time . Nothing could be farther from the
truth ! The most predictable "best time" to chase the biggest trout in the river is when the river is trashed ....
No where is this more true then on Slaty Fork . Catch this fishery on the rise after a big storm , employing the right patterns and tactics and it will forever change your views on what constitutes both fishable water and ideal conditions ! You may actually find yourself , as I did , sitting in the upper parking lot after fishing , with some friends , raising glasses and shouting "yes" as the lightening lights the sky , the thunder roars and yet another storm rolls into the already saturated drainage ....
The hardest parts of this have nothing to do with the river or the trout rather they are going to be the casting aside of long held beliefs and having faith . If you are going to do this you are going to have to abandon a lot of what you have considered truths about fly fishing and replace them with what at 1st will seem like craziness ....
Now some of what you believe is very true . A case in point would be big fly = big fish . The rule of thumb that applies here is .... take whatever pattern you consider big and make it twice that size . You need to be thinking ...."If a 3" long woolybugger is good then a 6" woolybugger will be better".
You need to be thinking this because it is true ! I tend to favor "bait" flies with a pair of 4" long cream larvae being real near the top of my list . Most of course fish streamers exclusively under these conditions and the inner circle of this group all fish huge articulated streamers . Bigger is better !
You probably also already accept that big fish feed readily when the river is up with color . This is of course completely the case . This is also though where your 1st perception adjustment is going to need to take place ... Most fly fisherman , especially those that like pitching big flies around love seeing the river up a bit and green milky . Green milky is well within their comfort zone what with them having read numerous articles on the matter and put the advice into practice successfully . Let the water turn light brown milky and 50% of them lose faith . Let it turn dark brown milky and the number rises to 75 or 80% . Let it turn red brown and all but a couple are heading back to the car . Here is what you must understand and completely accept ... you can catch at least as many in the red brown water and the dark brown milky water as you can in the green milky or light brown milky water and they may well be even larger fish ! Now until you can make yourself accept this it will not be the case because your lack of faith will change the way you fish . I have caught hundreds of big trout , on both ends of the river, in red brown water and so can you :) ! It is always very fishable , believe it .
Next on the list of the beliefs you will need to change is one that you are correct to hold at Elk Springs but that you will need to re-think completely on Slaty . This is that when the river is roaring the big fish are lying in the eddies and the slack edges . More often then not this is the case down river and I generally concentrate my efforts in these locations at Elk Springs . Slaty is different .
At least 75% of the truly big fish I have caught on Slaty were hooked in very fast heavy water . This is going to be the hardest thing to take to heart . Trust me , when /if you find yourself standing on the banks along the shelf upstream of the Upper Rail Bend with the river brown and flat out ripping it is going to be very , very hard to get yourself talked into trying it but if you can summon the faith , and taste success , you (like quite a number of others that have listened ) will soon be smiling when you hear the river is blown out .
The 2 things all my favorite Slaty big fish grounds have in common is that a. they are all heavy mid -fast velocity water , of moderate depth and b. they are all just upstream of a major hole . Concentrate your efforts on these places . I am not saying don't hit the eddies and edges at all but only that I have done way better in the heavy water and I believe you will too .
Now that we have covered what to use and where to be using it we are down to how .....
To be continued in part 2 !
Part 2 , HOW to do it .....
Ok so now you are standing on the banks along the shelf just upstream from the Upper Railbend Hole and the river is brown and rocking , Now what :) ? The answer to this will depend on the approach you are taking ...
If you are fishing streamers ... What I and several others like to do is start at the top of the section you wish to fish . wade out into the heavy flows , turn facing downstream ,and cast downstream at a 45* angle which will cause the big streamer to swing across the river stopping directly down stream from you then fluttering it so that it looks like a small fish fighting the current . Anything you can do to make your streamer appear to be an injured small trout , you should do .I recommend exploring all depths from on top to on the bottom , so you will be adding and removing weight all day . Fish methodically , covering every bit of water and slowly /carefully work your way downstream . Dark colors are traditionally what people throw in brown water but I recommend you spend some time tying and fishing yellow streamers on Slaty . Just saying .....
Now the thing is this is big heavy water so you need to be somewhat careful and completely honest with yourself regarding your wading ability . DO NOT PUT YOURSELF IN A SITUATION YOU CAN"T WADE OUT OF !!! Safety concerns aside you will not be catching fish if you are uncomfortable about your situation (thinking about survival/not drowning rather then "that seam has GOT to hold a big one " ) . You are better off NOT getting into the prime position but being comfortable then the oposite .... Wet wading helps and I almost always wet wade when I do this because breathable waders present too much surface area to the water . After a couple trips you will start to get more comfortable with things and then you can expand your wading range .
If you are fishing big "nymphs/bait flies .... This is just dead drift nymphing with the main difference. being that you will be throwing a lot of weight (think multiple b-shot or a string of bb shot at times ) so bring a stick that you are comfortable doing this with . Now we start at the bottom of the section we wish to fish , ease ourself out into the heavy water and try to keep a sharp angle (straight upstream casts rather then accross ) which gives us maximum time down with the fish . You will get a feel , on a given day for , where they are going to be . Aside from the big runs take some time to chuck your rig into the pockets behind boulder and big rocks , even rather small pockets ...
I will post a picture of a "proper" cream larvae later showing you the scale . When I say I fish big nymphs I mean exactly that ;) !
Regardless of the method you choose a big part of the challange will be holding and/or turning the big fish in this heavy water . You should be no lighter then 2x and 0x is better and you should be using a rod that has the backbone to bring them . I do not always follow this advice preferring the added sensitivity the lighter rods provide but I also accept the fact that from time to time I will pay for it via an ass kicking from a fish I could have probably turned on a 7wt . There will be fish from time to time that you simply can't handle ! They will bust you off into the teeth of the current . With nothing to back up the following assertion (since you don't get a look at them ) I have always believed these are giant rainbows which are a rarety but they are there .
I will be "fleshing this out" , adding details and such but this should give you a place to start .
Happy shark chasing ! elkfisher
The hardest parts of this have nothing to do with the river or the trout rather they are going to be the casting aside of long held beliefs and having faith . If you are going to do this you are going to have to abandon a lot of what you have considered truths about fly fishing and replace them with what at 1st will seem like craziness ....
Now some of what you believe is very true . A case in point would be big fly = big fish . The rule of thumb that applies here is .... take whatever pattern you consider big and make it twice that size . You need to be thinking ...."If a 3" long woolybugger is good then a 6" woolybugger will be better".
You need to be thinking this because it is true ! I tend to favor "bait" flies with a pair of 4" long cream larvae being real near the top of my list . Most of course fish streamers exclusively under these conditions and the inner circle of this group all fish huge articulated streamers . Bigger is better !
You probably also already accept that big fish feed readily when the river is up with color . This is of course completely the case . This is also though where your 1st perception adjustment is going to need to take place ... Most fly fisherman , especially those that like pitching big flies around love seeing the river up a bit and green milky . Green milky is well within their comfort zone what with them having read numerous articles on the matter and put the advice into practice successfully . Let the water turn light brown milky and 50% of them lose faith . Let it turn dark brown milky and the number rises to 75 or 80% . Let it turn red brown and all but a couple are heading back to the car . Here is what you must understand and completely accept ... you can catch at least as many in the red brown water and the dark brown milky water as you can in the green milky or light brown milky water and they may well be even larger fish ! Now until you can make yourself accept this it will not be the case because your lack of faith will change the way you fish . I have caught hundreds of big trout , on both ends of the river, in red brown water and so can you :) ! It is always very fishable , believe it .
Next on the list of the beliefs you will need to change is one that you are correct to hold at Elk Springs but that you will need to re-think completely on Slaty . This is that when the river is roaring the big fish are lying in the eddies and the slack edges . More often then not this is the case down river and I generally concentrate my efforts in these locations at Elk Springs . Slaty is different .
At least 75% of the truly big fish I have caught on Slaty were hooked in very fast heavy water . This is going to be the hardest thing to take to heart . Trust me , when /if you find yourself standing on the banks along the shelf upstream of the Upper Rail Bend with the river brown and flat out ripping it is going to be very , very hard to get yourself talked into trying it but if you can summon the faith , and taste success , you (like quite a number of others that have listened ) will soon be smiling when you hear the river is blown out .
The 2 things all my favorite Slaty big fish grounds have in common is that a. they are all heavy mid -fast velocity water , of moderate depth and b. they are all just upstream of a major hole . Concentrate your efforts on these places . I am not saying don't hit the eddies and edges at all but only that I have done way better in the heavy water and I believe you will too .
Now that we have covered what to use and where to be using it we are down to how .....
To be continued in part 2 !
Part 2 , HOW to do it .....
Ok so now you are standing on the banks along the shelf just upstream from the Upper Railbend Hole and the river is brown and rocking , Now what :) ? The answer to this will depend on the approach you are taking ...
If you are fishing streamers ... What I and several others like to do is start at the top of the section you wish to fish . wade out into the heavy flows , turn facing downstream ,and cast downstream at a 45* angle which will cause the big streamer to swing across the river stopping directly down stream from you then fluttering it so that it looks like a small fish fighting the current . Anything you can do to make your streamer appear to be an injured small trout , you should do .I recommend exploring all depths from on top to on the bottom , so you will be adding and removing weight all day . Fish methodically , covering every bit of water and slowly /carefully work your way downstream . Dark colors are traditionally what people throw in brown water but I recommend you spend some time tying and fishing yellow streamers on Slaty . Just saying .....
Now the thing is this is big heavy water so you need to be somewhat careful and completely honest with yourself regarding your wading ability . DO NOT PUT YOURSELF IN A SITUATION YOU CAN"T WADE OUT OF !!! Safety concerns aside you will not be catching fish if you are uncomfortable about your situation (thinking about survival/not drowning rather then "that seam has GOT to hold a big one " ) . You are better off NOT getting into the prime position but being comfortable then the oposite .... Wet wading helps and I almost always wet wade when I do this because breathable waders present too much surface area to the water . After a couple trips you will start to get more comfortable with things and then you can expand your wading range .
If you are fishing big "nymphs/bait flies .... This is just dead drift nymphing with the main difference. being that you will be throwing a lot of weight (think multiple b-shot or a string of bb shot at times ) so bring a stick that you are comfortable doing this with . Now we start at the bottom of the section we wish to fish , ease ourself out into the heavy water and try to keep a sharp angle (straight upstream casts rather then accross ) which gives us maximum time down with the fish . You will get a feel , on a given day for , where they are going to be . Aside from the big runs take some time to chuck your rig into the pockets behind boulder and big rocks , even rather small pockets ...
I will post a picture of a "proper" cream larvae later showing you the scale . When I say I fish big nymphs I mean exactly that ;) !
Regardless of the method you choose a big part of the challange will be holding and/or turning the big fish in this heavy water . You should be no lighter then 2x and 0x is better and you should be using a rod that has the backbone to bring them . I do not always follow this advice preferring the added sensitivity the lighter rods provide but I also accept the fact that from time to time I will pay for it via an ass kicking from a fish I could have probably turned on a 7wt . There will be fish from time to time that you simply can't handle ! They will bust you off into the teeth of the current . With nothing to back up the following assertion (since you don't get a look at them ) I have always believed these are giant rainbows which are a rarety but they are there .
I will be "fleshing this out" , adding details and such but this should give you a place to start .
Happy shark chasing ! elkfisher