Transcript: On the Water with Dustin White
Transcript
Marvin:
[0:04] Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly and we're back with another On The Water with Dustin White. How you doing Dustin?
Dustin:
[0:13] Doing well Marvin, how are you?
Marvin:
[0:14] As always, I'm just trying to stay out of trouble and you were sharing with me you're on one of those 30 day guide grinds.
Dustin:
[0:21] Yeah, yeah, we're nearing the end of it, but this is, you know, the busy time of year and the calendar filled up pretty quick.
So, you know, it's just kind of every day on the water, but I'm really, really fortunate that it's fishing, you know, good on just about every system we've got.
And I love getting to hang out with old friends and new on the water.
So a little fatigue, little, you know, little raccoon eyes happening, but all is well. Yeah.
Marvin:
[0:48] And so just to let folks know, how many days are you out of your 30 days straight?
Dustin:
[0:52] 26. Uh, 26, so we're nearing the end. Yeah. We're at, we're at the tail end of that.
And then, and then have, have to like have to, I have two days off and then started like a 20 day sting after that. So it's a little bit of a reprieve, but right back to it.
Marvin:
[1:10] Yeah. So how are you going to celebrate at the end of the 30th day?
Dustin:
[1:15] Oh, probably a little cocktail at the end of the day and early night to bed.
That's that's probably it.
Marvin:
[1:23] Well, there you go, and we were talking a little bit about conditions, and I know you've been fishing the mile a lot recently. What do you see in there and on the reef and in the bighorn?
Dustin:
[1:34] Yeah, each of them are going to have some similarities, some are going to be a little different.
Mile CFS is at 2800, which is ripping.
It's moving pretty quick. The fish are eating, you know, a lot of midges still, a lot of betas are being taken by fift.
Not too much surface because as fast as that water is moving, there's not a lot of soft water for them to come up and eat on the surface, but, you know, we do have some eating some emergers a little shallower in the water column on the edges.
And, you know, as us guides, we get really excited at this time of year when the suckers start spawning, because the trout will stack up behind the suckers and really gorge themselves on sucker eggs.
And so, if folks have, you know, sucker spawn patterns or something that mimics that, you're going to find some pretty good success with it.
Marvin:
[2:33] Yeah, bring your Y2K box, right?
Dustin:
[2:38] Exactly, exactly. In terms of the reef, blue wings and midges are the name of the game right now.
Really pleasantly surprised. I've seen a number of fish eating on the surface and quite a few more eating emergers just below the surface.
Reefs have been fishing really, really well.
They did take our water down to a thousand CFS.
So, you know, we had been up to two grand, and then they dropped it back down to a thousand because Glendo downstream of us has had some flooding issues with the rain that we'd had over the last couple weeks.
So they're trying to hold water back to, you know, alleviate some of that moving through that drain in there.
Bighorn still, name of the game, good, Stoubug, Blue Wing, everything is rocking and rolling there and all systems with dreamer game up there has been pretty efficient as well.
So, um, yeah, all those have been, uh, really, really well.
Marvin:
[3:42] And so how's everything in the impoundments and car plan?
Dustin:
[3:46] Oh, it's been great. Um, carp are stacking up on flats now.
Um, you know, you still have a good number of them that are spawning, but we're starting to see much more cruising carp that are coming out of spawn mode, really eager to eat and recoup some calories and regain some energy after that process.
So it's dynamic flat fishing for carp. It's been a ton of fun.
I know you and I were chatting before, but any day I can either be on the mile or carping, I'm taking advantage of it right now. It's so good.
Marvin:
[4:22] Yeah. Was that your picture of the doubled up carp on the Bugs Instagram feed?
Dustin:
[4:26] Yeah. Yeah, that was two of my great clients, Mick and Brad, and they had never done it before and had just a banger day and just a fantastic time on their trip here and got some really great carp.
Marvin:
[4:43] Oh, that's awesome. And I've got a question for you from Riley Fat Bear Fishing McDowell. Sure.
Yeah, and he wanted to get your thoughts on how you decide to fish a water column other than the bottom of the river.
Dustin:
[4:58] Yeah, observation is going to be one thing, right? And so, part of that is, yes, a lot of times trout are going to be hanging, you know, about a foot and a half off the bottom a lot of times, they're going to be, you know, sitting in water that's generally moving around two, three feet per second.
But when they're keyed in on bugs, right? So, you know, here on a tailwater, we're going to have a few different classifications of the flies we're using.
So, you know, a lot of of times we just as guys call it junk rigs or bug rigs.
Junk rigs are gonna be you know if you have an egg on, if you've got a fish in a leech pattern, a worm, that sort of thing.
Those are gonna be food sources that necessarily emerge.
[5:41] But bugs do. Aquatic insects do emerge.
And so one simple observation is do you see swirls happening below the surface?
Generally speaking it's not going to be in the down the gut in the run but it's going to be in softer water on the edges it's going to be in tail outs it might be in in some not super rapid moving ripple sections but if you're seeing those swirls that are not hydraulics if you sit there and pay attention to it and you're seeing swirls it's a pretty good idea that uh trout are sitting there right now we have trout that have moved into, particularly on the Gray Reef, that have moved into the edges of water and sit in the soft stuff, not in the gut.
[6:26] Why they do that, you know, food source could be over there.
They can also be spooked over there by the amount of boats.
If there's, you know, if it's coming off a weekend where there's a lot of pressure, those fish might move in, you know, out of the run where they've been, you know, being exploited a little bit by angler.
And so the food food source they're going to eat in the shallower, softer water is going to be suspended in the water column.
So if you know your bugs, and you're down at depth, and you're not getting takes, it's probably an indicator that the fish are eating higher in the water column.
So even if you're not seeing those swirls, and you start heavy, and you start long, and you're ticking bottom and getting a false take within every 20 seconds, and really are flipping lines, you know, the fish are on and they're not taking it, you shorten up, lighten up, you might be surprised to find that fish are gonna be eating a few feet just below the surface.
And so, but those observation skills of watching that is pretty key.
And so that's a great question for Riley.
Marvin:
[7:30] Yeah, and do you have enough like bird activity on the water for that to kind of be a clue when things really start popping?
Dustin:
[7:37] Oh yeah, yep, yep. So, you know, a lot of times that's a great indicator, you know, when we look at our swallows, the swallows really are gonna tell us, and also the seagulls, seagulls are going to be pecking at emergers coming up.
And so, that's a really good indicator of whether it's, you know, fish are eating, you know, the Thubomago bugs that are floating up to the surface and as they're maturing or if it's spinners, right?
Those are two different scenarios of where fish might be eating near the surface and the birds will tell you that.
So if you're seeing swallows that are low on the water, that's a pretty good indicator that the trout are going to be probably under them in soft water eating just under the surface.
If the swallows are still, you know, 18, 30 feet in the air eating the bugs that, you know, are descending, then you know, it might not be the time yet, but it might be coming.
So, uh, yeah, the birds are definitely a great indicator of that as well.
Marvin:
[8:43] Well, you know, folks, and we, uh, we love questions at the articulate fly.
You can email me, you can DM us on social media, whatever's easiest for you.
If we use your question, I will send you some articulate fly swag, and we're going to announce this pretty soon, what we're going to have a drawing for.
But at the end of the season, we're gonna have something cool, uh, from Dustin and Dustin, before I let you go to, uh, enjoy your 26th evening off the water in in a row.
You want to let folks know where they can find you at the bug so they can book in fish with you?
Dustin:
[9:13] Yep, you can give us a call down at The Ugly Bug. Our number is 307-234-6905.
You can find me on Instagram at Dustin James White and I'd be happy to take you out on the water, find some baits and find some good fish.
Marvin:
[9:31] Yeah, well there you go. Well listen folks, you owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few. Tight lines everybody. Tight lines Dustin.
Dustin:
[9:39] Tight lines Marvin. Thanks so much.