Methow River Report 6.29.16
After getting a few things done around the house, I was able to hit the Methow River for a few hours yesterday. The river looked good nice and clear but up some from the last couple of days. With a bright sun and temps rising, it was not the best time to be going, but that’s okay; anytime on the water is better then not going at all. I headed south to a couple of runs that have been good to me in the past.
I decided I needed more time with the spey rod than the singe hander, so I broke out my 5wt trout spey, tied on a smolt pattern and headed to the top of the run. About my fourth swing down, I felt the tug and had what turned out to be a nice cutty on. After a bit and when I had it about a rod's length away, it gave a couple of good twists and was gone.
That’s pretty much how the next few hours went. Changed flies a few times just see what else was working. Some did better then others. The top 3 streamers that had the most action were Fred's Mini Intruder, a Smolt Pattern and my Mini BDL.
The biggest Cutty looked to be pushing over 24," but when you are by yourself trying to get the camera, getting the net out and landing the fish, well lets just say I needed just a little longer arm reach to land that beauty. The total I got into was a handful of chunky cutthroats over 18" and about a dozen in the 10"-16" range.
From talking with other anglers that have been on the river, dry fly action has been pretty good. It can only get better once the river starts to come down and hits that 800cfs range. For dries, Hopper dropper has been working. We also have some new dries that have been working, so stop in and we'll get you hooked up with some patterns that no one else is carrying around here.
Overall, it will only get better from here on out. See you out there.