Fishing Journal-Week 13

Thursday May 13th the fish were chasing the big meaty flies like crazy

May 10
I made it out as planned today but I mistimed the hatch by just a little bit so I missed out on the dry fly action. And I do think it was going to be a good one, judging by the fish activity in the time I was on the water. I arrived around 1:00pm and saw some swallows dipping over the river. The sky was overcast and there were some scattered drops of rain but not enough to make life difficult. It was looking like a good day for some BWO's. I fished the same riffle as I did Friday and used the same nymphs as there were no bugs or fish up on the surface yet but I knew that things had to be getting close.

Having learned from my last trip here I worked the shallow drop off on the inside portion of the riffle first. It is real skinny water but I caught a nice fish there Friday so I figured there could well be another fish in there snacking on drifting nymphs. I worked the water over pretty good with no luck. Then on the end of a drift I was picking up my line to make a cast as the indicator was almost at my feet when I met up with some resistance. My indicator never responded but there was a nice hefty fish on the other end of the line. He bolted just like the last one I caught here for the fast current. I again worked him to the slow water along the near grassy bank and admired another 20" fish from this productive little spot.

I moved down the riffle working the deeper water along the edge of the main current. I had a little dry spell there until I got down near the end of the heavy current where it flattens out into a nice slower tail out. I worked the nymph around a submerged boulder that I only knew existed because I had fished this spot many times when the water was low, and sure enough as the flies swung around it the indicator took off. I set the hook on what I at first assumed to be a small fish. It didn't feel like much but suddenly he took off peeling line. I worked fish number two into my hands and was pleasantly surprised by a nice 18" fish with a thick body, and shoulders. A real stocky guy.

Funny story about this fish though...he must have been hungry. He had taken the top fly in my setup and when I brought him in I popped that fly out then let my fly's dangle in the water off the end of the rod straight out in front of me. I held him there letting him rest for a couple minutes and then watched him bolt away. Then this fish got crazy...I took the rod out from under my arm and was going to get ready to make another cast when I felt the line getting peeled out again. I thought maybe that as the fish bolted away from me he must have snagged himself on one of my fly's dangling in the water. But when I retrieved the fish, it was indeed the same fish, but he was hooked in the mouth, with the other fly. He must have seen it dangling there as he swam away and ate it up.

After releasing this fish...again...the hatch started changing. Fish began rising sporadically, and not subtly. Splashy rises were the name of the game, signaling to me that the nymphs were nearing the surface and the hatch was near. I am sure a swung soft hackle would have worked wonderfully at this time but I did not have any with me, so I took off my indicator and started swinging my nymphs. I had a take on nearly every cast, but I couldn't keep them hooked.

Finally just before I was about to leave, I hooked into one that stuck. It took off downstream and fought hard. After a good hard run this fish took to the air. I was ready for the first jump but could not get composed when he immediately took to the air a second time. What I could see was a very nice fish, spit the hook back in my face.

Satisfied with the day I packed up and headed back to the truck...knowing of course that the hatch was just beginning.

May 12
Not much to report on this day but, WIND! It was blowing hard, making casting difficult. The hatch never really got going as any bugs were immediately blown off the water. I did manage one small fish on a Tumbler nymph.

May 13
Fish were on streamers today. It's always fun to catch them chasing meaty flies. I caught three fish right off the bat nymphing a deep hole then switched over to streamers when the sun dipped behind the canyon walls. Sure enough fish were aggressive, but landing them was a trick. I busted up two of my leaders, and broke off three flies on fish. I lost many nice fish that just attacked the big flies, and had many fish swing and miss on the strike. It was fun to finally catch them in the mood for chasing streamers. It's one of my favorite ways to fly fish.