Playing in the Mud

This time of year we get lots of people through the shop complaining about how the fishing terrible because of spring runoff, and how long it takes runoff the finish. However, with a little common sense and patience you can catch fish during runoff. The easiest way is to just forget about the rivers and fish lakes. If you’re a river purest however, the rivers can still offer some fishing opportunities. Think about the trout, they are going to still behave the same in high water as in low water conditions. They are going to seek out those areas where they can stay relatively stationary without expending large amounts of energy. Back eddies, slack water along banks, behind rocks, buckets all stack up with fish this time of year. The trick to catching them is getting something bright, flashy, or dark right in front of their nose. Something they can see. This is where the patience comes into play. You need to make umpteen casts into each piece of holding water you find to make sure the fish sitting there have had a chance to see it. I can’t stress this enough; the real trick too fishing during runoff it pounding holding water over and over again. While you’ll never do really good fishing rivers during runoff, you can be out there catching a few fish while most people wait it out at home. Good luck and keep it safe!