Ruby River, tailwater section, Mt.
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I went to the Ruby River yesterday, above the town of Alder. Arrived streamside about 8:30 am; probably too early, as there was no action. Around 10 am, a few PMD’s were hatching, and despite their paucity, the fish were clearly feeding, both on the surface and in the film. I fished a dry with emerger(s) trailer, but every fish I caught was on the dry, a #16 parachute Adams. Landed a half dozen fish, all in the mid to upper teens in length, and heavy. the action lasted about 11/2 hours. Great fun!
I returned to the Ruby, a short distance downstream of the damn. It was a sunny morning, with little wind. The tricos began to come off the water around 9:30, collecting in ever increasing clouds for an hour, before falling spent to the water’s surface. With that, fish began to surface. But our anticipated moment of dry fly fishing was cut short, by clouds and a northerly wind.
This section of river has many large brown trout, but one must hit the hatches to get them. The tricos are still hatching by mid-morning, if sunny. Worth a visit!
I returned to the Ruby River tailwater yesterday. The water level was higher, and the water was milky; visibility was about twelve inches. The weather was great, sunny and warming into the low 70’s.
I spotted a number of large browns, moved into shallow gravel to spawn. Otherwise, a moderate trico hatch happened around 11am, with a spinner fall about an hour later. Occasional fish were rising guardedly along the banks, under overhanging trees and in rock structure. They responded to small, size 22, spinner patterns, and ignored everything else that I offered!
It was uncrowded, and remains a good stream for a late morning visit.
I returned to the Ruby River tailwater today with Matt and fiancee Kelly. This was Kelly’s second effort at fly fishing. The night had been cold, and the weather was partly sunny with little wind. The water warmed around 10:30, and the tricos began to rise shortly afterwards.
We began to spot sporadic rise in the quiet water along the stream edges. The bulging riseforms suggested that the fish were feeding on nymphs just below the film. We cast a pair of flies, a moderate sized hopper, trailed with a glass beadhead nymph pattern.
Kelly hooked two heavy brown trout, running 14-18 inches! Quite a day for a beginner!! You can see her picture with the hyperlink below.
https://simpsonflyfishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/kelly.jpg
I fished the Ruby River tailwater this morning, as most folks chased the salmon flies on the Madison. The water is still very turbid, with visibility only 12-18 inches.I hoped to find that the trico hatch had started, but that was not the case. I did encounter light PMD and midge hatches, but not enough to bring fish to the surface.
The few fish I caught snatched my nymph offerings.
I’ll keep you posted r.e. the appearance of the tricos, which provides reliable, daily surface feeding.
