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[Carich980]

I use Rio 650 skagit line & tips. What weight of tip do you guys usually cast on the Upper Vedder in all that white water? I fished a lot of runs up that way today but lost half dozen or so flies due to snags in all that white water. Do you guys generally fish in that white water with any results or should I be avoiding it and looking for the slower and less boulder clustered runs?

 I was using a 10' section of T-10 with a 4 foot leader of 12lb mono.

Thanks

[HOOK]

thats not very good water for swinging a fly however you can put on a strike indicator and do some nymphing through there however you may as well just use a gear rod then  lol

I typically fish mid and lower river where most of the more fly friendly water is

[Matt]

Suggest you float fish until you're comfortable picking out where the fish are going to be then making the transition.  Using a spey rod adds variables (ie: sink rate of tips and your flies) into the equation.  Too many uncontrolled variables will make for inconsistent success if any success is to be had.   Steelhead certainly will sit under heavier water or in riffles at times, but usually not in whitewater as in what you'd see kayakers playing in unless theres a pocket of soft water caused by a boulder.

To reduced the depth without changing tips all the time, try angling your casts farther downstream (ie: closer to 45* downstream instead of 90* straight across) so that your tip (incl. fly) has less time to sink before it comes under tension.  10' of t-14 is a pretty good tip for getting down in a lot of scenarios and casts well with most rods I've used.

[awurban@msn.com]

hey man most of the water on the upper river is a lot of pocket water, try to find slower tail out water, or classic fly water, one sport for example that comes to mind right now between the main run at the ranger run and the clay bank. You have to adjust your fishing techniques for fly fishing, its a bit harder to pick pockets. One thing you can do is use a shorter tip and a longer leader like a T-8 tip that is 6 feet long and an 8 foot leader, with worm weights. You can use bass fishing worm weights to add extra weight to your fly's to just pick pockets, but it is a matter of your fishing style. A lot of guys would rather pass up pocket water that is easily fished with a float rig. I find especially in pocket water, with all the heavy current and different current directions you have problems with your leaders, sink tips getting pulled up or in different directions which pulls your fly up in the water column. So the worm weight principle works on the fact that you can use a longer tippet section and a heavier weighted fly to get down quicker, it uses your skagit line or floating spey line almost like a float.

[River Fisherman]

Start walking the river and learn from others by watching and talking to them. You will very quickly see, who knows that he is doing and who does not. Not sure how experienced you are with your spey rod, but I generally would say to start with the "easy stuff" before you move into big challenges. I personally prefer the upper Vedder as well due to the lesser fishing pressure and nature. You simply have to test the spots depending on the flowing speed and depth of the water. There are some great old timers out who are happy to chat with you and give you all the info you need on the spots they are fishing.  I would suggest to simply fish slower water, tail-outs and pockets in general. If you hit fast water the chance of hooking into fish is smaller because they won`t hold in it, on the other side, if they move through the moment you present your fly, they have less time to make a decision.