Gardner River – June 2013

[Mike Cline]

Zach, I know you’ve asked about the Gardner in the past. It is one of the sweetest pocket water streams in the park, especially in June, early July. Have made three trips of far this year, but today was the best. The river has dropped enough to make the lower section pretty accessible without having to climb up and down the rocky banks every ten feet. Salmon flies are just around the corner, but the fish aren’t waiting for the real thing. Today I was able to toss big dries from the get go. Although its only 1 mile from the mouth to the Rescue Creek trail bridge, that mile takes about 5-6 hours to fish effectively. Fresh stonefly nymph husks were everywhere, but no adults to be seen because it was cool and overcast. The big hatch should take place in the next week to ten days. The big distractions this spring are the cow elk and their calves which are bedding down along the river bottoms in the willows.

Prevalent fresh Salmon Fly nymph husks

Cow elk and calves scared up out of the willows

One of the go to salmon fly patterns on the Gardner – Walt Wiese’s Prom Queen

One of the easy sections

Much tougher water to navigate

A more classic pattern, Park’s Stonefly

This was the go to pattern today – Walt Wiese’s Prom Queen

Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu

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