Bennett Spring Fishing Report

I was able to get down to Bennett Spring last weekend and as usual a few fish were caught and a few lessons were learned.  The spring received rain last week (Thursday and Friday morning I believe.  The was was up and murky on Saturday but things were still fishable.  It was also free fishing weekend.  With those things being coupled together, it meant that good fishing spots were limited and there were lots of people fishing those spots.  That just meant that quarters were a little tight.  I didn't see any altercations or problem-causing behavior, just close quarters.  Fishing was pretty tough for me on Saturday and I only managed about 10 fish out of my usual spots.  And while I was temped to go to a darker color or fish a wooly bugger, I was a little stubborn and stayed with old tried and true- a white jig under and indicator.  By the evening the water had dropped and was starting to clear up.  It also seemed that the fish were becoming more active.

My girlfriend Wendy and I finally found a hot spot at about 7:45.  We were fishing just upstream from whistle bridge near the hatchery outlet.  From about 8:10-8:30 (when the horn sounded) we were catching fish just about every cast and nice onces too.  I think we caught about 14 fish out of that spot.  Here's a few pictures form the evening.

The next morning, we returned to the same spot.  The fish were still there and were consistently biting.  Between Wendy, her mom, and I we probably caught 20-30 fish out of that spot before it was time to head home.  Wendy had a little more luck fishing about 5-6 feet deep and I did pretty well fishing the fast, shallow water where the hatchery water was entering the spring.  Here's some pictures from that morning.

So here' what I learned and was reminded about last weekend.  Obviously fishing high water is tough, but it also drops pretty quick at Bennett over a 24-36 hour period.  Also, fish at Bennett aren't always in the same place every single time.  It seems that water conditions will relocate them and the spots that worked last time for you might not be the best spots this time.  I was also reminded that finding a school of fish is as important as anything you do at Bennett.  You are making things more challenging by fishing for one fish (not that there is anything wrong with that) but if you want to get into some intense action, you have to find the groups!  We spent all day Saturday looking for a cluster of fish that were feeding and when we finally did, it made the trip a lot more fun and successful!