Matt was right… seems like he always is.  He said black bead version of the Little stripper was the way to go when the sun is not on the water.  He definetly was right.

I got to fish from 2:00 til dark. Fished down lower on the river. The Big Browns are up high on the river, and many have come to fish them. So I went low.  Big Browns mean 10+ lb. bruisers. Please, please watch out for the beds, if you come. Anyway , back to my trip. It was overcast and 50 degrees. Perfect weather to be on the river. I saw few bugs, a couple of Sulphurs . There were a few rising fish. There are always some midge and black fly sippers in this long, slow pool.  For some reason, I seem to be pulled to these kind of pools. Don’t know if it is the less competition or I just plain like “tough fish”.  And slow , slick water means that. And around the grass beds where the water was real low,  tough existed yesterday. Torpedoes leaving their wakes was the case . I wondered then , and do now, if a Beetle quietly dropped in them  would not have made those wakes come eat.

Anyway , in the 3 feet deep water , over the grass beds and between them , fish ate Blake’s Stripper. But not with wild abandon.  You know, pick a fish up here and there. All these fish were 12″ and better. A good mixture of Browns and Rainbows.  The real fun began, when I listened to my son.  The “Little Black Stripper” was the key. Nice Browns began to eat it. Boy, was it fun. The back of the pool had a little current, not much, but a little. And the 14-16″ browns were sitting there just waiting on this midge pupae imitation. These were fat, wide browns .. gorgeous fish. The width of them really caught my eye. These fish have eaten well, very well. And because of their location, not many people disturb them. So they sit and eat all day. And their size shows it.

I tie a size 16 – white cdc winged Sulphur Comparadun with a biot body for my strike indicator. It floats well because of the biot body; is very visable; and is very sensitive to takes.  Another good thing about it is that it cast so well.  I would highly suggest this kind of fly for your dry , dropper rig. Don’t tie it for beauty. Tie it for the above reasons. And you will still catch some fish on it. If it is yellow here, some fish will always eat it.

So, if you don’t want to just pound bedding fish all day.  Then just go fishing. There are plenty of quality fish everywhere.

Oh yea, remember Matt’s advice.

Tight Lines,

Rod Champion

423-878-2822