Knee deep in rainbows: Columbia River

Knee deep in rainbows

The Columbia was nothing short of spectacular last month. Tossing a full sink line with a number 6 golden stonefly nymph, or a big and ugly #4 pteronarcys californica (salmonfly) nymph produced a number of good rainbows.

Large spawning male caught on a stonefly nymph

On Sunday I strung up the floating line. With fish rising everywhere, I managed to land and release a half dozen rainbows on a black ant pattern and adult salmonfly.
Fish the back eddies, tailouts, or at the mouths of streams. Highstick it through the shallow riffles, letting your nymph tumble along the bottom like a dislodged stonefly nymph. Then let it swing and rest in the seam for a few seconds before a slow retrieve.
Be sure to get out before the freshet is in full force. I already noticed that the water is rising. Normally it muddies from run off and becomes laden with debris, but this year has seen almost perfect spring conditions for a slow run off, except of course the recent heat wave.
Good fishing and tight lines.

Experiment. This orange woolly bugger
fooled a couple rainbows

Another nice Columbia River rainbow