High Water...Heaven or Hell?

I was sitting on the bank of a then, no-name stream in

Orleans County, during the fall of 1993, with no one else except my two clients. I was contemplating how I could squeak out two more days of brown trout fishing on this peaceful piece of water.

You see, the creek had been flooded and the thought of fishing high, muddy, fast flowing water had turned everyone away. Now the water had dropped and cleared to a point where our catch went from fifty fish a day to eight a day. Still good fishing, but not what some may expect on a fall stream outing in the early '90's.

Anyway, about the time that I think conditions have deteriorated to a point that I have to locate another spot, along comes the first group of anglers that I had seen in five days. Great! I have low clear water, less fish and now, competition. Upon greeting the three fishermen, one remarked, and I quote: "Yep, a few more days and this creek will really be good and fishable." "Are you kidding me," I thought? It was at that moment and many other instances since, that I realized how many anglers are intimidated by high dirty water.

Fast forward to this past fall. The Salmon River is at 1,500 cfs or more for about one month. Cancellations for lodging are at an all-time high. Fish City was but a ghost town on a few of those days. This, at a time when we were experiencing the best run of Kings in over ten years!

There were fish everywhere. A few braved it out and were rewarded handsomely. Many others retreated to the small streams, which was a good move. And yet, so many others stayed away. The fish are already wet; they don't leave because the water is high.

You just have to know how to fish for them and more importantly, from where.

As I mentioned, the fish are still there. Where they are not, is in the traditional lies. They do not want to fight that heavy current any more than you do. They will be on the edges, most of the time in less than three feet of water. They particularly like to run the inside corners: the path of least resistance. You Do Not want to wade into the water. In fact this is the time to use the ankle rule. Don't wade more than ankle deep. You will catch more fish, I promise. Most anglers seem to stand where the fish live and then they throw to the other side. Hello! Stay out of the water!

If you are targeting salmon, remember they will be on the gravel doing their thing. Where do you find most of the gravel? In the shallows. Again: stay back, move slow, and cast first, look second. Everyone wants to see them first and then cast. Nope. Too late. You just spooked him. I know you are saying to yourself right now, "Yep, I have done that, I know I have."

I talked to several anglers that only wanted to target steelhead the last week of October. This is great but they were not having any luck. When I asked them where they were fishing, they mentioned all the usual chrome-producing hangouts. I said, "Guys; the only reason these trout are here is to gobble eggs. You have to fish behind the salmon." One said, "We don't want to hook salmon." Well geez, I guess you don't want to catch steelhead then either.

Think about this: in low, clear 300 cfs water, the trout are immediately spooked off the salmon redds at first light by the whippers. In 1,500 cfs, they are loving life, tucking in right behind the sharks, just sipping eggs as they spill out of ole Sally.

To reiterate: if you want trout in high turbid water during the fall season, you have to fish through the salmon.

Next, try to lighten up on the lead. You are not trying to dredge bottom in ten feet of water. You are lightly drifting the edges. Get rid of the #2's and try a 3/0.

Another advantage to high turbid water is that you can beef up on your line and leader. Get rid of the six pound. Ten to 15 will be fine if the water is off color. This way you stand a better chance of landing your fish, as well as getting out of unwanted grassy snags that come with fishing high water.

In closing, I have a saying that I use every fall and it was most definitely put to the test this past season. It goes like this: it can never rain too much in September, October, or November. If the rivers flood, fish the edges; if that doesn't work, we go to the creeks. If the creeks flood, we go the ditches. If the ditches flood, we go to the cornfields. You can always fish somewhere in the fall. You will never hear a truer statement. It is just the nature of the beast to migrate upstream. Just keep moving up and out. You will find them. Good Luck.