Craig The Barber attempts at a smile while holding a nice brown he caught on a Caddis last night.

The gauge up at Holter Dam is showing 3230 cfs this morning. The water temp is 61 degrees. With the low flows and hot afternoon sun we are expecting to see the water warm up quite a bit over the next few days. The good news is Holter is a bottom draw dam, so the water flowing into the river here is nice and cool from the bottom of the lake. With forecasted highs in the mid 90’s for the next few days it will be best fishing early in the morning or later in the evening. It can get a little uncomfortable to be out there mid day with limited shade available on the river.

We have been getting a good hatch of Caddis late in the evening on the entire river, especially down in the Mountain Palace to Pelican section. Top flies have been The CDC Stocking Wing #16, Snowshoe Caddis #16, and Hi Vis Elk Hair #16. PMD’s are still around in good numbers, but the glory days where any PMD fly was catching fish is just about over. Like most hatches the fish start to get a little more selective once they have seen the bugs around for a while. Fishing a smaller fly sometimes helps fool the tricky ones. Last Chance Cripple #18 and Sprout Emerger #18 are good flies to try.

The nymph is catching a good amount of fish as usual. A really light nymph rig fished in the shallow riffles is working best. Dropping a PT or Lighting Bug off a larger Caddis dry is a good tactic for those who feel better without a bobber. Swinging a soft hackle or caddis pupa is another good sub surface presentation that gets the fish going. A Sparkle Pupa or TC Caddis Emerger are good flies to try on the swing.

Streamers are getting tough with all the weeds and sun out there. It’s better to stick with the dry or nymph.