Green Below Fontenelle June 4th, 2016

Date / Time: Saturday, June 4th Location: Green Below Fontenelle. Slate to dodge float and a little up higher below car body. The Characters: KK Weather: Sunny 80s. Water Temp: Didn’t measure, guessing mid 50s Water Level: Around 2800 cfs Water Clarity/Quality: Clear. Moon Phase: New moon Hatches: BWOs, occasional pmd Best Flies: Larva lace worm, cricket Fishing: Camped night before and Dan drove over from Bear Lake to meet me. We stayed up a bit too late, not too bad but some fog during the day. Camped right on slate creek ramp since everything else was full but we didn’t check up high at weeping rock since Dan had his honda and I knew it wouldn’t be able to go down where I wanted. In retrospect wished I had just gone up there somewhere anyway since I knew the fishing would be best up high for dries. I ended up floating since I pulled my pram out to sleep and didn’t want to load it back up in the morning. Dan did my shuttle so I did the long float and had the trolling motor. I fished dry dropper on the drift and messed around with streamers but should have just pushed down to sidechannels and slow areas where I knew the fish would be. I ended up wasting a bunch of time doing this and despite being first down initially eventually I got passed and couldn’t fish the spots I wanted first. Water was high too so some of the spots I fished were too deep. I stuck a couple on the dropper in the first big channel below the islands on the top right and lost them. Got out and waded the mini channel off of that since it had been good previous year with BK but nada in there. Got back in and floated an spooked a bunch where that comes back into the channel. Got out anyway and rerigged and chilled and fished it hard for nada. Floated back out and they were stacked throughout the drop outside below that but I spooked them too. Got out and fished the channel to the right and hooked a few and lost them eventually feeling I needed to go deeper and nymph which I did. Worked back up through the drop I had spooked them on and a boat came down right on top of me and hooked one out of there jackass move no etiquette. Ended up hooking several in there although lost all except one 16” ripper which was my first landed fish. They were stacked heavy in there and future reference would be good call to stop up and right and bank fish it. Eventually headed out and worked down with dry dropper on drift with trolling motor and didn’t hook shit spooking them left and right on the edges. Should have just fished the dry with so many in shallows. Covered a bunch of water and only hooked one off of a rock on the dropper way down above the big rock crossing at dodge that ripped all over ultimately getting caught on bottom had to jump out and ended up losing it near me. Boats started to catch me big time at this point. Hit a few more slow spots and hooked a few more losing most. Ultimately saw the fish and game guy checking everyone at takeout and realized I didn’t have life jackets so eased into river right channel and fished for a while until he left. Got one more 15” in there. Overall, poor fishing and mainly because I never stuck to one thing and did what I knew would be most productive, get out and stalk and fish the sidechannels…Went up high on way out around 4pm and there were a ton stacked in the skinny side channel along the high bank below car body chowing nymphs. One was rising up high on far bank but too hard to hit with the high water. I stalked them and got a couple to eat cricket missing them and stuck two on the dropper I think the caddis. One ended up being a killer 18” or so ripper and I ended on that. People all over the place all day. Would have been a much better day if I had stuck to the stalk and sidechannel game instead of killing time drift fishing for naught. Also fished the streamer on the super heavy line and should have used the lighter tip.