Keiryu Catfish

By Mark Larkin
Arizona

My wife and I took a canoe trip through Stillwater Canyon, the lower 50 miles of the Green River above the confluence with the Colorado. On this trip I took my 21' keiryu rod and a tub of red worms and a tub of nightcrawlers. Drifting the worms into likely looking holes and under trees produced quite a number of channel catfish. The fishing was very active and most all of the cats were lip hooked. I used a #6, long shanked, wet fly hook with a straight eye and yarn markers (2) rather than a float. My line for this was usually about 2 feet of 20# braided Dacron from the lilian and about 15 feet of 4lb mono to the hook. I used a BB or #1 split shot about 8" above the hook.

This reach of stream is not known for good fishing and I understand that most folks who try get skunked. I'm convinced the great, natural drifts you get with a long rod and short line were vital to any success I had. The Green is 'big water' but the 'mountain stream' fishing techniques of keiryu can be successfully adapted.

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