June 28
Another great morning on the river. It started off a bit slow when we arrived on the water about 6:15am, and I was wondering if the warm weather was going to start affecting the morning midge hatch here. It turns out that was not the case. Things got rolling about a half hour later. The water was alive with fish feeding through out the slow moving flat. There are a lot of smaller fish in this area so you have to keep your eyes out for the bigger fish in order to single them out. I have been getting better at this as the mornings have been going on.
As the feeding frenzy picked up I noticed a fish feeding tight to the opposite bank in a rhythmic fashion. The rise forms were not large but I have defineatly learned that the size of the rise does not match the size of the fish. These big guys can sip a midge off the calm surface and barely make a ripple. Fishing to the bank across the current gets tricky in that the water is usually not moving near as fast next to the bank as it is just a few feet out from it. These big fish feed amazingly close to the bank. I had tried for a fish in this same lie a few days ago and had not been able to succesfully land the fly close enough to the bank and maintain a good drift with the differing currents. It may have even been this same fish, but whatever the case, I eventually spooked it and had to move on. Today I was able to land the fly in the zone on one of my first casts and true to form the fish rose and took the CDC midge pattern. I set the hook and immediatly knew I had been right in assuming this was a nice fish, even though all I had seen of it were the subtle rise rings it was making.
The fish bolted downstream on me and slugged it out in a deeper hole. There were times when I wondered if this fish wasn't foul hooked the way it pulled like a freight train but a few minutes later I netted a very nice 19 inch thick shouldered brown, hooked in the mouth not once, but twice. I was using an adult midge with a zebra midge dropper, and evidently on the way up to take my dry fly, the big brown had taken the opportunity to munch on the pupa pattern as well. It is the second time this year I have had a fish do that.
I continued hunting the bigger heads in the run and ended up catching 3 more nice fish before having to head back to the office. Not much can beat that kind of wake up call.
The final day of June was a good one for sure. I did not bring my camera today but maybe that allowed me to catch more fish. Less time setting up that perfect shot means more time fishing.
I arrived at the river around 6:15am and not much was happening. It took about a half hour for things to turn on but when they did they really popped.
Today I switched my flies around a little bit. I used the same CDC wing midge dry fly I have always used here but changed my dropper from a Floating Zebra Midge with a white foam head, to a regular silver bead head Zebra Midge. It seems the fish prefer the regular Zebra Midge.
Where usually I catch about 50 percent of the fish on the dry, and 50 percent on the dropper today was a different story. I ended up landing 10 nice fish in a couple short hours, and 9 of them took the dropper, and only one took the dry. I had one other fish take the dry on the day but I missed it. Other than that it was all about the Zebra Midge today. It has long been one of the better patterns on this river for me but I have been trying some new things out. Apparently I was getting to fancy, because the fish still dig the regular old standby.
July 1
I had so much fun on the last day of June I decided to get the month of July off to a good start. Only problem was someone got up earlier than me, and for the first time this year on my morning outing someone was fishing my favorite run. I don't know if they had much luck but I was forced to find another spot. I didn't look to far as I headed just one run up about a half mile above my usual spot.
The day started innocently enough with a couple fish on my zebra midge dropper, then a spunky little brown took my adult CDC Wing Midge pattern. I was striking out on the big fish sipping tight to the bank though. I had one take on the dropper and rolled what felt to be a very nice fish, but the hook popped out soon after the hookset.
Finally I found myself near the base of the riffle that emptied into the flat I had been fishing. There was one fish I had seen nose the surface from way down stream so I was keeping my eye out on that area hoping he would still be feeding. Sure enough as I waded into position the snout broke the surface. Then a couple seconds later the fish lifted it's whole head out of the water on another rise. Not an overly quick aggressive rise. The head just came up in a slow easy going manner and quietly slipped back under the current. The size of that head though was what had me excited. This was not your average fish. This was a big one. It's hard to estimate a fish's length in inches based on just seeing it's head, but I have caught a lot of 20 inch fish here and I know how big their heads were on average. This head was much, much larger.
I laid a perfect cast into the feeding lane and watched the tiny fly intently. Then the fly passed from the dark reflection of the surrounding hills to the bright reflection of the morning sky and I lost it. Still watching the area closely there was a barely perceptible swirl. My foggy brain was not engaged at this point. I don't know if I was expecting the take to be more along the lines of the full head out of the water rise I had seen earlier or what. That and not being able to pick my fly up on the water caused for a moment of hesitation in bringing my rod tip up. When the whole process finally clicked and my body did react I felt the momentary tug of a large body on the other end followed by the quick release of tension as my line flew back over my head. I didn't even have time to be extremely let down. The whole thing happened so quick it took me a few moments even then to realize I had just missed an opportunity at a great fish.
I wondered if the fish would show himself again so I took off the fly I had and started the process of switching to a mayfly spinner pattern to give me something to do while I waited to see if he would return to feeding. About halfway through the fish made one rise, so I knew I hadn't spooked him out of the country. But that was the last I saw of it. After my new fly was tied on I stayed as long as I could before I knew I would have to get back to the truck and off to the office and did not see another feed.
Head hung I waded back down river to the truck. About halfway down I spotted a fish feeding across the river along the far bank. I waded into the middle as far as I could and threw a perfect cast just above the last rise ring. Again the light was playing tricks on me and I quickly lost the fly. But when I saw the swirl in the vicinity I was ready this time. I didn't hesitate a bit and brought the rod tip up on a nice consolation prize.
Miss Congeniality
I guess it wouldn't be a fishing story if I had landed the big one.
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