Fishing Journal - Week 24

August 4

After taking some time off for a family camping trip in the mountains it has been back to the grindstone this week for me. Finally I felt recharged enough last night that I thought I could handle an early morning wake up call and a trip out to my favorite spot on the river. It turns out I didn't fall asleep until well after midnight but I refused the temptation to reset the alarm and just skip it this morning. I arose bright and early and headed off to the river despite feeling a bit like I had been run over by a Mack Truck.

It was later than usual when I finally got rigged up as I had to do some reconfiguring of my set up when I arrived at the waters edge after fishing some still water on our camping trip. Finally I was ready to go and the fish were rising like crazy. I tried a new midge pattern I tied up last night and gave it what I thought was a pretty honest shot over some actively feeding fish but they gave me the cold shoulder. I switched it up several times but still no luck. Things were not going so hot at this point, and the fish were definitely kicking my rear.

Sometimes I just have to move on, and that's what I did. Up ahead of me there was another pod of feeding fish so I waded up river and into position. The midges were hatching like crazy so I went with a pattern that had been an old favorite but I haven't used in a while here, an adult CDC wing midge. On my first cast to these fish I was rewarded with a feisty little football of a fish. That was more like it.

A few moments later I landed a little bigger fish on the same fly.

Then things shut back down for the midge pattern again. Fish were still rising in the area but I couldn't get them to even sniff it. At this point I switched over to a spinner pattern and went to work on a nice fish I noticed feeding right off the bank. As my first cast fell a little further upstream than I intended and the fly line landed a little close to where the fish had last rose I was sure I had probably spooked it. But as the fly drifted lazily along the bank it was suddenly engulfed by the big snout I had seen rising before. A few moments later a fat buttery 19 inch brown was in the net. Ah yes this river still delivers.

Soon after landing this fish things really shut down so I called it a morning and drug myself out of the river. Back to work.

August 6

The sky was on fire and so was the fishing in the evening.

I went out twice today.  Once in the morning, and once in the evening. 

The morning was a bit of a dud.  Fish were eating Trico's and I had the pattern they liked but I couldn't keep them hooked.  In fact I couldn't even start to get them hooked.  Many, many takes that when I brought the rod tip up the fly pulled free.  It was a bit frustrating, but it was still nonstop action.  Finally late in the morning right before I packed it up I had a decent fish take a very small olive Sparkle Dun, the closest thing I had to match a Trico adult, and I finally landed one.  Early in the AM they had been on the black male trico spinners, but as the morning progressed they looked more and more to the lighter colored female duns that were hatching.  It was fun to try and figure out another hatch but also was a bit frustrating to only come away with one fish in the net for my efforts.

Later in the day we headed up again.  Having heard rumors of fish smashing hopper patterns Kelly and I had to get up there and see for ourselves.  Sure enough the rumors were true.  I think I only landed 8 fish but had so many fish smack the hopper that I didn't hook and just as many more that I did hook and fought for a while before they popped off it kept things very interesting.  Kelly found similar success in another run up river from me as well.  It was a blast throwing some big foam flies for these fish. 

It doesn't get much more extreme than that.  Throwing a #24 Trico spinner pattern in the morning and switching to a #6 big ugly foam hopper for the evening session.  This river often demands small patterns though so it was nice to get out and fish some big bugs for a change. 

Here are a few photos of the evening.

The longest fish of the evening

 

 

 

 

The spunkiest fish of the evening.  Not the biggest but it sure was fiesty

Another smaller fish that smashed the hopper

 

 

 

Hopper down the gullet.  Yes this fish squirmed right as the camera went off.  It was the last fish of the night and it was the fattest fish of the night.  A very heavy 19 inch fish.  I didn't get a better picture because right after this my camera battery died.