Holy water?

[the salmon kid]

have any of you guys tried fishing the holy water above the hatchery on the rogue river ,,,i see fish there a lot but i can't seem to get them to take any of my flys
any suggestions?

i have caught some on parachute Adams earlier this year but when it started to show i haven't caught anything on it

but lately i have tried a black gnats and midges but they are eating every fly on the water but mine what do i do?
please help

 

[Drew9870]

Beadhead Wooly Bugger in all black, I'd use a size 8-12 depending on clarity.

 

[Drew9870]

Maybe flip some rocks and see if you can imitate what life is crawling on them.

 

[the salmon kid]

i have tried wolly buggers with no luck and flipping rocks sounds like a great idea but most of the fish are surfacing for little black flys,., but next time i go i will try to see what is crawling aroung up there

 

[Van]

I hope to give that are a shot sometime this summer or spring. Hopefully i will pick up some good info in this thread.

 

[brandon4455]

egg and flesh flies, in pink and white variations, all the salmon are nasty and rotting so all the steelhead and trout will be eating the eggs/ flesh floating down the river. thats what ui would do if they wont hit my dries

 

[Phil_Bud]

I'd just be fishing in the river man.
Fishing in Holy Water should be getting better soon as it warms up I'd imagine. No Salmon Carcus are in the Holy Water Right? But what brandon said makes good sense.

 

[brandon4455]

I'd just be fishing in the river man.
Fishing in Holy Water should be getting better soon as it warms up I'd imagine. No Salmon Carcus are in the Holy Water Right? But what brandon said makes good sense.

there could possibly be, does STEP drop them in there for nutrition enhancement? or does the hatchery let them go upriver after they go through?

 

[halibuthitman]

75% of the time a denial comes from a poor presentation... like drag in the drift or a fly that is riding poorly, if the small flies are black, and they are not hitting your black fly... you are also probably fishing too large of a presentation, I have found that black x caddis flies tied very small will usally substitute very well for any black colored hatch. But they also may not be actually surface feeding... are they swirling or splashing.. are they jumping repeatedly or just randomly? see, this is the part of fly fishing where a lot of people wash out... youve learned to rig, hopefuly cast, you have all the flies and gear... but you don't know the hardest most important part.. the details... the bugs-

 

[brandon4455]

75% of the time a denial comes from a poor presentation... like drag in the drift or a fly that is riding poorly, if the small flies are black, and they are not hitting your black fly... you are also probably fishing too large of a presentation, I have found that black x caddis flies tied very small will usally substitute very well for any black colored hatch. But they also may not be actually surface feeding... are they swirling or splashing.. are they jumping repeatedly or just randomly? see, this is the part of fly fishing where a lot of people wash out... youve learned to rig, hopefuly cast, you have all the flies and gear... but you don't know the hardest most important part.. the details... the bugs-

i was wondering why those dries you gave me where so small LOL. i was like...could a steelhead even see these?

 

[ProfessorChromology]

The Holy Water is where you go to get your PHD in frustration. Those fish are big and smart. They get pounded by some very experienced flyfishers all year, every year and there are some HOGS in that short stretch of river. I have seen salmonfly hatches there that rival the Deschutes and Madison Rivers and I have been refused by almost every big fish. The best luck I've had is on a full sinking flyline with a black or olive wooly bugger. Right down by the dam, cast straight out as far as you can and let the line sink. They strip back in short one foot strips all the way in. When stalking the bigger fish, you have to act like a blue heron and be slow, deliberate, patient, and quiet. A blood red midge larva on a TMC 2457#18 is a great midge larvae pattern and you need light leader...like 6X fluorcarbon. It is an awesome place to fish, but if you catch more than two or three fish you are either charmed or you've earned them.

 

[GungasUncle]

Are you trout fishing, or steelhead fishing?

If trouting - they might be sucking down midges - in which case you need to think small and light - something like an all black bivisble in size 18 or smaller, fished on a 6 or 7x tippet Or stick with the other end of the spectrum - and swim a black woolly bugger a foot or three below the surface - big fish don't like expending energy they don't have to, and readily take bigger meals when the opportunity arises - so if you've tried the woolly bugger thing and aren't getting bit - change up your presentation - as you're either doing something the fish don't like - or you're just not fishing the fly at the fish's level. Try skimming the bugger right on the surface, and working down in the water column until you're bumping bottom. Try a tandem rig - tie a short section of 4 or 5x tippet to the bend in the hook on your bugger, and then tie on something crazy like a small egg fly, or a small thread worm and see if that doesn't change your luck. You could even go down to a 6 or 7x tippet and fish a midge pupae as your dropper fly - this has done well for me in the past. Just remember that light tippets mean light hook sets - doens't take a powerful yank to set a #18 hook (because you'll either break the tippet or bend out the hook if you do!) - and keep your drag light, if you've got an adjustable drag reel.

Good luck with those hawgs.

 

[GungasUncle]

One other thought - maybe it's not midges - I know it might be a little early - but maybe those are Blue Winged Olive that are coming off down there? In that case, you're looking at sizes 14 down to about 18 for your flies - easier to see, and you can get by with 5x tippets for most of that. a BWO dry with a size smaller dropper - say an emerger or even a pheasant tail (standard unweighted, not a bead head) would be killer.

 

[Throbbit _Shane]

its only trout. c&r only. when i learn how to fly fish im going there.