06/24/12 Blue River Below Green Mountain

06/27/12
Blue River Below Green Mountain
7:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Flows 492

1st float trip of the season!  They finally raised the flows on the Blue enough to float.

We decided to get to the Blue Valley put in early to avoid the crowds and the heat of the day.  We ran shuttle and noticed that we weren't the only ones with that idea!

There were already 2 cars at the take out, so we hustled back and got on the water by 7:30.

As we were getting the boat ready, I decided to get a quick drift right where we launch the boat, and quickly had a nice brownie that took a pat's rubber leg!  A good sign the for the day.

So we shoved off and fished some fishy run and managed a few more brownies on the pat's rubber leg and a 20 incher.

No pictures...got those fish back in the water quickly so we could pursue bigger fish!!!

As we made our way to Jurassic, the fishing slowed just a bit...a few missed strikes, but no fish to the net, so Josh decided to tie on a big articulated streamer and managed his 1st fish!

A beautiful bow that absolutely hammered the streamer.

We switched up rowing duties which allowed me to bring a couple fish to the net!  A few more small brownies and a "dink" bow here and there, with a few big boys sprinkled in.

My biggest of the day was this bow that took a pellet fly on the Jones Ranch.

Josh was able to score his biggest fish just before the Jones Ranch on a copper john.

Fishing was good, but not great.  We did have good luck finding some big fish, but the fishing wasn't lights out like we've seen before on the Blue.  We didn't see any fish rising, and all fish were taken on nymphs.  Pat's Rubber Legs, Copper Johns, Tung Teasers, 20 Inchers, and Pink San Juans were hot flies.  The pellet fly brought 2 fish to the net, but we didn't see any pellets in the water which is probably why it didn't produce like it normally does.

Lots of changes to the diversions and braids were done on the Jones Ranch.  Time will tell if this will improve or harm the fishing.  For now, it helps make some of the diversions easy to navigate, and at higher water this could be a plus!

Flows are still "low" so if you're going to float, account for extra time.  A float that normally takes 5 hours ended up taking 7.