If you have not been on the water the last week you are just plain missing out. The weather has been great and the trout fishing is HOT! Typically March brings a very good Woolly Bugger bite to the Whitewater area. This bite produces large numbers of fish, but more importantly produces larger fish. I’ve been quite stubborn for much of the month throwing buggers non-productively. Last week things finally changed.
I as able to spend Tuesday and Wednesday evenings on the water. The weather patterns and water levels finally worked together to provide a solid bite. On both days I fished an olive woolly bugger. All of the fish were taken on the strip (not one fish taken on a dead drift). Tuesday 20 fish were landed. Wednesday provided another 10+ fish. Both nights fish averaged about 12". 6 or 7 of these fish measured at 14"-15", but no hogs.
Today was absolutely insane on the water. I caught and landed 35-40 fish. I again started out the day fishing a #10 olive woolly bugger. Most of these fish were taken on the strip, but today there were a few fish that took the bugger on a dead drift. About half way through the day I got my chance at a big fish. I had cast into a downed tree, as I stripped my bugger away from the tree a large trout hit the fly, and after a short fight dove back into the timber and busted me off. I thought this would be my last chance at a nice trout (20"+) for the day. Luckily for me I was wrong. On the last hole of the day I switched to a black bugger for a change of pace. Right away it produced a couple of nice 14" trout. A couple of casts later I hooked into a 20" brown that immediately dove under a tree downed across the stream. I had no choice but to fight him back up stream under the tree. Luckily my tippet held and the fish was landed and released. Two casts later I was casting to anther downed tree. I had retrieved my bugger from the tree out into a large sand flat. Three fish chased the bugger. The first was a mammoth trout I guestimated at 24" and 4-5 lbs. The second was 18"-19", and the third 15". What a sight!! Unfortunately the 15" trout beat the other brutes to the fly. All in all a fabulous day on the water
The technique that I’m using stripping a woolly bugger is to cast towards the bank and strip out at a 45-60 degrees downstream. In small streams this is a little bit more difficult. What I try to do is dead drift the fly into the middle of the hole. When the fly is where I want it I will mend my line upstream so there is a big bow in my line. As I strip the fly out of the hole this created the effect of a bait fish trying to escape from a predator. This time of year this presentation is very effective. Unfortunately frenzy of this bite will die off sometime in early/mid April, so now is the time to get on the water.