April 16, 2023

CFS at the dam started at 1200 this morning, then two hours earlier than previously advertised, at 10 AM, the CFS at the dam abruptly dropped to 750 - CFS at the Pineville gauge started high as well, at 1480, then rapidly dropped through 1470 (11:15 AM), 910 (12:15 PM), 876 (2:15 PM), before it settled at 868 (3:15 PM) for the day - air temperature started at 61 degrees, climbed to our high of 83 degrees by 3:30 PM, then slowly dropped to our current 77 degrees - water temperatures started at 47 degrees and climbed to 52 degrees by early afternoon - hazy blue skies early in the morning gradually clouded over on just one half of the horizon, with brilliant sunshine for most of the day - winds were very light, and variable, serving to cool a bit - we had a total of 22 guests, checking in as early as 6 AM and as late as 5 PM - our first guest to leave at 11 AM was happy with the four Smallmouth Bass he brought to hand, in the middle section, fishing a 3" floating blue-back Rapala - the bass ranged from 16" to 18", with his largest at 21" - a pair of guests came off the run on his heels - they both fished a pink paddletail worm (one by spinning, the other by fly rod), under bobbers, without success . . . apparently, this lure and rig performed well for Steelhead yesterday - at 11:15 AM one guest came off the lower and middle parts of the run, having been unsuccessful, but turned right around and fished the upper section for an hour, and connected with two Steelhead, one a drop back, the other a fresh fish, swinging a white wooly bugger with a red / white tail and bead "eyes" - at 12:30 PM two guests came off the upper part of the run - one was skunked, the other was broken off by a nice Steelhead, which took off with his chartreuse wooly bugger . . . that angler is hoping some other lucky angler is able to bring the fish to hand, with the fly still there - shortly after 1 PM three of our veteran anglers came off the run - two reported no success, the last reported 0 / 2 Steelhead swinging flies in the lower and middle sections - at 1:15 PM a guest came off the run, reporting 0 / 3 Steelhead, all of which broke him off - he went back down with a spinning rod as well to target some very large bass cruising the run - this guest came back off the run at 6:15 PM, reporting a total for the day of 0 / 4 Steelhead, and seven Smallmouth Bass, 18" and up, including a real trophy (the pictures of Hank, in a blue shirt, which are featured in this report), perhaps pushing -??- pounds - at 2:15 PM a guide and his client came off the run, not having been successful - the guide immediately went back down to the run, to scout, and at 4:15 PM he reported 0 / 1 Steelhead swinging a white wooly bugger - one guest had previously came off the run at 2:20 PM, but reported not having had any success fishing the middle and upper sections . . . a guest, who had checked in late, and fished for a couple of hours, at 6 PM reported 1 / 2 Steelhead, bright chrome, about 27", swinging orange colored flies, with some black and tinsel, in the upper section - his first time connecting in seven trips, so he was very happy - a pair of guests came off the run at 6:45 PM - one was unsuccessful, however the other (Vin, in white shirt, whose pictures of a Steelhead and Smallmouth Bass are also featured today) reported 2 Smallmouth Bass in the 18-21" range, and 1 / 1 Steelhead swinging flies for the first time ever, a tan zonker - at 7:15 PM, after only a couple of hours on the run, our last guest reported 2 / 2 Steelhead drifting a green glow bead under a bobber in the upper section - the forecast for tonight is: evening showers, becoming a steady rain overnight, a total of a quarter inch of rain - low near 45F. The forecast for tomorrow is: Steady light rain in the morning. Showers continuing in the afternoon. High 57F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Sounds like really good conditions for angling for Spring Steelhead and bass!

79° / Clouds

Sunrise: 6:20am

Sunset: 7:47pm

868 CFS Pineville Gauge

750 CFS Dam Release

Clouds