About 2300CFS, a tad above normal flow, about 1.5 to 2 ft visibility, didn't bother with water temp. Air temp high 90's heat index over 100, occasional breeze/cloud cover.
When you have to wear waders for health reasons you make adjustments in this type of heat. Lot's of ice cold water in the cooler in the car, taking breaks and sitting with the air on while drinking said water, dipping the bandana in the river and wrapping it around your neck and dipping the hat in the river. Another biggie is staying in the shade as much as possible and the most dependable source of shade on the river is under a bridge. Letting the water run around your wrists is also very helpful, well at least mentally it helps.
The fact that the fish will use the shade lines as ambush points, bridges on built on rocky areas which attracts forage and predator alike and that bridge abutments have slack zones to the front, side and rear are more good reasons to fish them. Throw in washout holes and the current seams created by the abutments and it's a pretty good place to fish.
I fished four different bridges and all four are different from each other in shape/size of abutments, surrounding depth of water, exact type of hard bottom,distance from a dam or inflow and the like. It became apparent rather quickly that they weren't chasing any hardbaits. I used a weighted keeper hook with assorted plastics and a jig/pig. Both worked although there was a slight difference in how they took them. The weighted keeper got the usual jig pickup while the jig/pig got taken like it was a crawdad, hit,spit,crush/kill.
Most of the fish came from the shadeline at the upstream end or the slack spots to the front,side and back of the abutments. I got some in the areas between the abutments where there was a hump to hold fish. I did venture out of the shade occasionally to check the areas in front of or behind the bridges. I got 4 or 5 fish doing that, I guess catching some fish and maybe sweating off a pound or three made that worthwhile.
I made a poit of only fishing halfway out on each bridge so i can fish the other half on Wednesday.
When you have to wear waders for health reasons you make adjustments in this type of heat. Lot's of ice cold water in the cooler in the car, taking breaks and sitting with the air on while drinking said water, dipping the bandana in the river and wrapping it around your neck and dipping the hat in the river. Another biggie is staying in the shade as much as possible and the most dependable source of shade on the river is under a bridge. Letting the water run around your wrists is also very helpful, well at least mentally it helps.
The fact that the fish will use the shade lines as ambush points, bridges on built on rocky areas which attracts forage and predator alike and that bridge abutments have slack zones to the front, side and rear are more good reasons to fish them. Throw in washout holes and the current seams created by the abutments and it's a pretty good place to fish.
I fished four different bridges and all four are different from each other in shape/size of abutments, surrounding depth of water, exact type of hard bottom,distance from a dam or inflow and the like. It became apparent rather quickly that they weren't chasing any hardbaits. I used a weighted keeper hook with assorted plastics and a jig/pig. Both worked although there was a slight difference in how they took them. The weighted keeper got the usual jig pickup while the jig/pig got taken like it was a crawdad, hit,spit,crush/kill.
Most of the fish came from the shadeline at the upstream end or the slack spots to the front,side and back of the abutments. I got some in the areas between the abutments where there was a hump to hold fish. I did venture out of the shade occasionally to check the areas in front of or behind the bridges. I got 4 or 5 fish doing that, I guess catching some fish and maybe sweating off a pound or three made that worthwhile.
I made a poit of only fishing halfway out on each bridge so i can fish the other half on Wednesday.
