Crooked River Update
April 17, 2020
The flows have come up on the Crooked. Over the last week and a half there have been some significant fluctuations and it has affected the fishery. Every year we see something similar out there. The difference this year is that the flows never got above 260cfs. The smaller than usual push of water is okay. The fish haven’t been as disrupted as usual. This could change at any time! Always check flows before heading out there this time of the year. What we’ve seen over the last week is few fish rising to the hatch, but nice trout being caught using nymph rigs. Whenever you have flow go from 90-250cfs the bottom of the river bottom gets churned up. With that we see a whole new food group for the fish. Everything from leeches to scuds, stonefly nymphs and caddis pupae is getting scoured off the bottom and introduced to the fish. It’s a seasonal feeding frenzy. Everything you’ve been doing out there for the last five months should be thrown out the window. You can still catch some on BWO nymphs and midges, but the bigger fish are nosed up into the riffles eating all the new, much bigger food. This pattern will continue for a couple more weeks. Then look for our spring to get fully into effect with caddis and PMD becoming more prevalent.