The day started off with the weather being a little cool. We suited up with waders and rain jackets. Mikey Weir, Grady Garlough are guides with Grady guiding on the MFA for over 20 years. He really knows the river very well. We launched at the lake below the tunnel and had a shuttle driver take the truck to the pickup point down at Ruck A chucky. It’s a little over 12 mile float. (*pics below)
We started fishing the lake throwing white streamers and was amazed at the number of fish following the streamers. Mikey was using an 8 weight rod with a floating line so he could throw a larger streamer. My 5 weight wasn’t handling the large streamer very well. Even my 5 weight switch didn’t handle the large streamers well. The fish were everywhere, both sides of the mouth, along the high wall on the left as you leave the boat storage area, even along the shore where we launched, It was hard leaving the lake at 10:30 with the action so good.
I can’t wait to get back to the lake with my float tube and a heavier rod with a floating line. Be sure to have 6’ to 8’ of 15# fluorocarbon. The fish notice the floating line at shorter leader lengths and shy away from the fly. I had on a Teeny 200 sinking line that didn’t work as well as the fish were feeding a foot or two below the top.
The flow was high and moving fast at around 2000 CFS. I tried nymphing but it was too fast and difficult to see a hit with the bubbling water. We often saw fish chasing the streamers throughout the trip but with the fast water couldn’t go back for them.
Coming through the two deep pools at Gray Eagle Bar was quite a ride and it was difficult even distinguishing one pool from the other as they both seem to be one big run. As we pulled over into slower water at the bottom of the lower pool, Mikey was fighting a huge brown. We lost a lot of fish due to fast currents throughout the trip.
This trip was not for beginners. Perhaps at a lower flow, but I had my hands full with the fast moving water and bouncing waves. There were areas that were flat and slower where fish were rising. It was a pain to switch rods as everything had to be tied down securely with the fast rough water. Kanaka Falls is a class 4 rapid 6’ fall. This is probably the most difficult to run. The Orange wall is also a challenge. Clearly at these flows it would not be save for an inexperience person to float down the river in anything. Wearing a helmet and professional life vest was required.
We caught nice fish all the way to Fords Bar where the river got wide and slower. This was more my style of fishing although by now it was 4:00 and I was tired. So I lit up one of my Horseshoe Bar Preserve custom blend cigars and enjoyed the scenery. Nothing like float down an incredibly beautiful rive smoking a cigar and sipping a cool beer. By now the weather had warmed and we were able to remove our helmets and vests and a few layers of cloths. It will be much more fun with warmer weather. I would have wet waded if it were warmer.
As soon a we start seeing a reasonable flow we will put together some trips.
Tom
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