Above Benton Crossing—barbless flies and lures only, catch and release, open all year. Since September, there have been three runs of big Browns and Rainbows coming and going from Lake Crowley. During the latest run, fish were concentrated in some of the deepest bends, making them easy targets and resulting in up to six 18–24” fish caught most days using Yellow Spot and Flashback Pheasant Tail nymphs under an indicator about 6’ deep.

During the past week, those fish have spread out into deeper (3’–4’) runs for spawning activity. The nymphs are now working only for an occasional straggler, so Bacon and Eggs (Egg Pattern with a San Juan Worm under an indicator) are on the menu, along with casting black or olive Woolly Buggers downstream. In past years, these fish have moved back into the bends for some R&R before heading back to Crowley—so we’ll see if that’s the case this year.

There’s also been some decent Caddis and Mayfly activity, creating good topwater action for mostly smaller fish using those dry fly patterns.