With all the interest in the Thompson this year I have deceided to share some this years experince from Steelhead Town. Nice fish Nina, love that reel.
Got away a week late this year, due to some family issues. Got a little frustated by the delay so I hit the Stave a day before our departure. The water looked good on the Stave; but the fish were eluding me. So I though, "what the hay, I'll try some of my favorite Nicola patterns, the water looks similar." "SHOCK" First cast with my golden stone nymph and whack. The tention on my 6w told me this was no typical 10 to 12 inch lower mainland fish. Some jumps and runns later I brought to hand a Bow the size of a Thompson fish. "What is that" I thought "this fish is bigger than the average fish in the Nicola". "Is this a fluke, or are there more?" With darkness closing in I had to hurry. Another few casts and drifts; whack another had hit, another fight, and another 16 inch Bow. In the dark now I head home amaised at what the Stave had given up.
Friday Aug 5th we arrived at at Big Horn 10k south of Spences Bridge (aka Steelhead Town). Our close freinds are the owners of The Big Horn Trading Post, the largest hat store this side of the rockies and the only tackle store in the area. Fri evening was spent catching up on news and trading stories with old freinds. A large part of Sat was spent seting up camp, rolling out fire hose and watching the fire move down the ridge across the river. Sun was spent tying and restocking the store fly bins.
Mon Aug 8 it was time to start fishing. The trick to the Tom in the summer, is fishing early and late, when the sun hits the water the bite goes off. If you study the hills you can often get enough shadow to get 3 hours in in the morning and 3.5 hours in in the evening. You could fish all night under the moon but with very slippery rocks and the rattlesnakes (rattlesnakes hunt at night using their heat sensitive vission) it can be risky. I decieded to fish the Nicola first since the kids wanted to swim. (We have an understanding; since I fish up river, they swim down from me in the water I have already covered. Bad news the access via the old kettle valley rail bed has been blocked leaving only road access through native land, posted no tresspassing. This left only marginal water; small fish and pike minnows were all I caught that day.
The rest of the trip was spent on the the Thom and no I am not going to share my favorite runns. I got skunked on two occations when the Bows changed their feed. The best day netted me eight fish and the biggest was 3 lb. Successful flies #4,2x yellow stimulators, #8 golden stone nymph, #10 tom thumb standard & red bodied, #6 grass hopper, and #14 elk hair caddis. What did not work this year but usually does were black stone nymph and black stimulator. Make sure you grease your dries well, they won't touch them when they sink.
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Topic: News on the Thom (Read 2882 times)