Taming turbulent waters

The huge winter snowpack in the Sierra and high waters in the San Gabriels mean you may not recognize your favorite fishing hole this year. And even if you do, you might think twice about wading in. Fly fishermen who brave high flows need to tweak their techniques and test different strategies.

“Adapt to an extreme version of how you’d normally fish,” suggests Ian Harrison, a managing associate at the Orvis store in Pasadena, who did some fishing in swift currents in January when he pursued steelhead on the Merced River in Central California. “You’ll have to learn the West Fork [of the San Gabriel River] all over again. What was a hole is now a run, and structure has changed, including trees and boulders.”

Rather than dealing with chaos on larger rivers, early season anglers might want to stick to tributaries and spring-fed creeks and then move on to bigger streams once water levels start to drop in summer.

But it’s not just waterways that have changed. Fish behave differently in high-flow conditions.

Trout always want to get the most calories with the least amount of effort. They’re opportunistic feeders that avoid fast water in the center of a stream.

Instead they tread water in slower currents along the edges, waiting for a meal to float past. They get even lazier during spring runoff. Would you walk headfirst into a raging windstorm to get dinner when a tasty meal was mere steps away in the comfort of your kitchen?

“Fish are sluggish from winter,” says Harrison. “They’re not as apt to move a lot because it expends their energy. In swift currents, they’ll also hole up in depressions along the stream bottom, popping up every so often to nab an insect snack.”

Savvy anglers concentrate on trout hiding in dark, deep spots and fish in slower pockets of water.

Look for obstacles that block the current, such as logs and boulders in the water. Aim your fly to where fish like to hang out -- behind boulders where there’s no current, advises Josh Hevron of the Troutfitter Flyshop in Mammoth Lakes.

Turbulent water tends to be dirty, so finding gin-clear streams this time of year isn’t realistic. But how muddy is too muddy? One rule of thumb is that if you can see 2 feet through the water, you can fish it.

High flows are a good time to break out the streamers and sinking fly lines, says Hevron. Presentation of the fly is still key, but you can get away with some mistakes in murky water, he says.

Using dry flies is probably not worthwhile because the current will carry them along the surface too quickly.

Nymphs should be dead-drifted. Generic patterns such as hares’ ears and pheasant tails tend to be reliable in high water, says Harrison. When all else fails, he suggests attracting trout with a bright-colored woolly bugger twitched through deep pools.

Stock up on split-shot weights because you’ll need them to get wet flies down deep. To set up a typical rig for fast water, tie 18 inches of tippet onto the line using a surgeon’s or blood knot, leaving about an inch of tag line on at the knot, then attach weight to the tag line and the fly at the tippet end. If the weight gets caught on rocks or logs on the bottom, it simply slips off.

With sinkers, forget about casting in graceful arcs. An overhead pendulum-type horseshoe cast will be necessary to prevent all that line and hardware from tangling in a maddening mess.

Any of these techniques can be used when fishing from riverbanks, which might provide a better place to be when the water’s high.

If you find a safe spot to enter, choose a route with shallow riffles and always move at an angle rather than straight into the full force of the current. Use a wading staff or hiking pole for balance, planting the staff and then shuffling with legs close together. A belt can help prevent waders from filling with water if you tumble in.

Temperatures also are tough to predict. It may be warm in the city, but summer’s still months away in the mountains. “Have a backup plan and be prepared for the nastiest winter day,” says Kris Kennedy at the Fly Shop in Redding, Calif.