Muddy Water

All about trout fishing in the great Garden State!
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MickyFinn
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Muddy Water

Post by MickyFinn » Sat Dec 05, 2020 8:22 am

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With everything flowing high and muddy last Tuesday, I decided to try a local creek thinking it would have come up sooner and would go down sooner. The water there was elevated, muddy, but looked wade-able. As I geared-up on the side of the road, a guy pulled up to comment: "Don't you think it's too muddy for that?"--or something similar--to which I just shrugged, thinking he might well be right. But I was in the mood for fishing. If nothing else, I'd practice my nymphing technique. Maybe a half-hour in, fishing a seam, I got this pleasant surprise. A little later and higher upstream, I found another of the same. Not so bad! I ran out of fishing time before I ran out of enthusiasm. Live and learn.

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coaltrout
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by coaltrout » Sat Dec 05, 2020 9:00 am

The myth of bad fishing in muddy water was created by Big Fly companies to get you to fish less and browse gear catalogs more often :ugeek: lol

Troutman
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by Troutman » Sat Dec 05, 2020 10:45 am

congrats...............
Was known as Troutman1

Andy Brasko
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Location: Mount Laurel, NJ

Re: Muddy Water

Post by Andy Brasko » Sat Dec 05, 2020 12:28 pm

A couple things comes to mind on this good subject:

1) Ralph graves taught us at a Catskill Fly Tyers Guild meeting that the fly the poly stickler was a great fly for this type of water. Ralph taught how to the the poly stickler and shown us how to take color markers and make it look like a Brookie or rainbow. Tail and dorsal fin made out of straw and the whole body is simply a clear plastic bag that shackle come in.

2) My two experiences is fishing with a wet fly called the Thunder that had a lot of violent strikes by Trout for me.

3) My other wet fly with much success was a Fontinalis fin. Both of my two wet flies fished well on those muddy or chocolate streams after a good day of rain.

Beautiful fish you caught that brought back some memories of mine and why not brush off an opportunity to go fish.

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lightenup
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by lightenup » Sat Dec 05, 2020 3:01 pm

I was hoping to hear Mannish Boy or I'm Ready when I read the title. Great Blues!!! nice FAT belly on that fish!

MickyFinn
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by MickyFinn » Mon Dec 07, 2020 5:52 pm

Good to hear from you folks! Postscript goes like this: We got more rain (Friday night) and the stream was again high and muddy on Saturday. But I fished there on Sunday, again, because the SBR and Musky were still running high. The idea was the same: The smaller waterway would rise quicker and fall quicker--and it did. By Sunday, it was just a bit elevated and just a little dirty. I went five for five, all 'bow's 15 inch and over,
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including the fish in the attached photo.

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coaltrout
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by coaltrout » Mon Dec 07, 2020 5:59 pm

Sunday was good trout fishing indeed. That sun shining really helps! Mmm bunch of stocked fish should be spread out by now too 8-)

Vance
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by Vance » Tue Dec 08, 2020 6:58 pm

Hello, I will never forget about three years ago while fishing the B’kill. The water was very muddy a real brown and flowing high. I said to myself that I drove all these miles to fish so I am going to fish. I started just above the cement bench that is on the B’kill old 17. I had one of my best days fishing. I never fished no more then 10 to 12 feet from shore. The area I fished had a lot of rocks and the fish were against the rocks beside them or behind the rocks. Point fly was a size 12 GRHE and the dropper was a Pheasant Tail size 16. If the water is really dirty fish close to the banks as the fish do not want to fight the current. Bill the mailman

MickyFinn
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by MickyFinn » Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:09 am

Yeah, Vance, I am getting the understanding that trout are less skittish when water is turbid/"dirty"--and that they try to shelter from the faster flows (although I've seen video online of them holding position in fast water--and that video said that trout actually expend less energy maintaining position in faster water). In my limited experience it does seem easier to approach them in cloudy water and they DO seem to take positions out of the faster current.

Yesterday's water was pretty much crystal-clear to the point where you could see bottom in very deep holes. Not as good a fishing day as Sunday. It looked like I was scoring a goose-egg until near the end of the session when I connected with the cooperative fish in the photo.
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MickyFinn
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by MickyFinn » Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:12 am

A friend and long-time fly-fisher told me the big, fall stocking rainbows may be coming up into the smaller waterways from where they were stocked in the SBR and Musky for breeding. Can anyone verify any of that?

Jaybird
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by Jaybird » Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:55 pm

The pequest hatchery bows are fall spawners so maybe , but they move around for other reasons too .
They are forced to spawn in the fall so it fits in with the hatcheries time table . Wild , native rainbows spawn late winter/ spring . It's a whole can of worms but yes the hatchery rainbows in NJ spawn in fall .

martalus
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by martalus » Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:59 pm

Thats a real pretty bow. Looks like he may have on his fall spawning colors, as perhaps you were alluding to for the pequest stockers.

MickyFinn
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by MickyFinn » Fri Dec 11, 2020 12:14 pm

The interesting thing is that I've been finding rainbow trout in a waterway that was not included on the list for fall stocking--but the 'bows that I've been finding there I would say are clearly of the large, two-year-old fall-stocking variety. So, then would they have moved up into a tributary from the SBR? To breed?

MickyFinn
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Re: Muddy Water

Post by MickyFinn » Fri Dec 11, 2020 12:17 pm

From yesterday...not sure if it took the egg pattern or the beadhead...
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