Submitted by Brandon Huerta on
Managed to sneek away to the Owyhee with fellow business partner Justin Wells during the week. Not sure what I did to make the wife so satisfied but 4 days on the water out of 7 days must say something. Thanks Sweetheart!! Anyway it was a blue bird day with some moderately windy conditions. With that said it kept the fish down a little more than I expected. There were some fish working the the surface more towards the end of the day. Picked a couple off on midges right before we called it a day. The majority of the day was spent ripping meat through the water. All in all it fished well. Enough fish chased and ate flies to keep the day exciting. The Owyhee isn't the toughest river to figure out in the winter, mainly due to the fact that there are a lot of fished stacked into a small amount of water. If you are not seeing fish working the surface than slip on your nymph rig. The river is made up of skawala stones, caddis, pmd's, bwo's, callibeatis, mahoganies, and midges. There are a few others but that covers the staples. So your pheasant tails, haresears, small rubberlegs or woolybugger in olive green, caddis, and small midge nymphs will all be effective. If you find yourself looking for something other than just watching a bobber then tie on a streamer pattern and start strippin. Not your clothes the fly! I find a slow to medium one foot strip seams to work fine this time of year. However if that is not working switch up your stripping pattern and if you get a take try and remember what you did. The South Fork of the Boise will be closing in a month and a half which means the Owyhee is about to look like the Boise river through town during the steelhead dump so enjoy both these rivers in the next six weeks. Tight Lines!
