May 23-25, 2009

Water temperature was up to 59-60 degrees, and water level was noticeable down from prior years, although a local farmer said cold and wet weather had just ended a few days prior to our visit. He did note that the area had less snowpack than in prior years. The chironomid hatches were overwhelming. They filled the air like a mist. Air temperatures were in the 70’s with sunny and clear to partly cloudy skies.

Despite these hatches, I continued to use my damsel/scud imitation fly (see last year’s report) on a size 12 2X hook, catching a fish about every twenty minutes from my float tube. The fish were slightly smaller, 11-12 inches, and not as fat as in prior years, but still healthy. If you haven’t fished Sidley before, these fish will still appear great; but for those of us who have fished it before, the fish lack that football appearance.

I managed to catch two 17-inch fish, one of them was six inches measured top to bottom, one 15-inch fish, and the rest (several dozen) were in the foot-long category. Two of these fish were completely bloated, their stomachs stuffed with olive scuds (size #16-#18).

Because of high winds on the plateau, our large tent was blown down on May 25 after one of the four major poles snapped, ending our trip early.

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