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Despite temps and rain, fishing remains best early or late
Mid-August brings some changes to fishing across Colorado. Some are subtle; others unmistakable. They range from a slight cooling of water temperatures in rivers and lakes brought on by welcome rains, to the explosive action of wipers feeding near the surface on several eastern-Colorado reservoirs.
Rain has fallen across much of the state during the past week, keeping most trout streams at a good level for fishing and easing some concerns about excessively warm daytime water temperatures.
On the downside, rains can discolor the water on a given day, creating tough conditions for fishing. The high, roily water usually is of fairly short duration, but heavy rain can disrupt fishing for several days.
Whether on a river or lake, fishermen also should be aware of quickly developing thunderstorms and potentially dangerous lightning.
Fishing Report
It's quickly turned into a strange late-summer on the Columbia River, with salmon angling at Buoy 10 a near-total bust, yet the chinook bite pretty good at several popular upstream locations. Here's how it was at Buoy 10 in the past few days, based on sampling by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: Sunday, 327 anglers with four chinook and 10 coho; Monday, 99 anglers with three chinook and eight coho; Tuesday, 99 anglers with two chinook, three coho. Most years, the bite at Buoy 10, the name for the lower 16 miles of the Columbia, is much, much better than farther upstream. The slow start at Buoy 10 in mid-August was written off to the chinook being late, but by now the bite upstream and counts at Bonneville Dam make it obvious the salmon are on their way; they're just not biting like they normally do in the estuary.
Anglers hopping on buggy bandwagon
You're not seeing things; that tall grass really is wriggling, but not to worry, for there are no supernatural forces at work. The constant movement - and the rustling noise that accompanies it - is caused by thousands of tiny grasshoppers. Central New York had a heavy hopper hatch last summer, and this year's crop appears to be just as abundant. Fishermen, especially trout anglers, should take note, for when those jumpy insects start making crash landings on local streams, hungry browns, brookies and rainbows will hear the dinner bell ringing. Normally, I don't expect to see full-grown grasshoppers in any numbers until the third or fourth week of August, but they're running ahead of schedule this year. As soon as the water in Nine Mile Creek, Chittenango Creek and other rain-swollen streams drops and clears, live hoppers or artful imitations of the real thing should prove deadly.
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