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.

Fishing Journal-Week 12

May 7

I only made it out to the river once this week but it was a pretty good trip. The fish were still not up feeding on the surface despite a pretty good hatch of caddis, and some Blue Wing Olives so I stuck to nymphing.

There were basically two nice runs where I stopped to fish. The upper was a very short riffle that dumped into a short but very deep hole. I know there are a lot of fish in there but I haven't ever had a lot of luck fishing what looks like a very productive run. I did get one good tug as my flies swung up at the end of a drift but it was gone as soon as it came. After about five minutes I felt I had covered this spot about as good as I could and moved down to the lower shallower but wider and longer run. This riffle had a lot more fishable water and I knew it would take some time to really work it over and cover it sufficiently.

I started up high and worked down focusing on working around all the submerged structure but had not even a tick on the indicator. I was at the bottom of the run where the current really slows and about ready to head up to the top and work down through it again, when my indicator darted sideways. I set the hook on a small but fiesty little brown. I quickly landed the 12 incher and went back to work in the slower water. It was hard to know just where the fish would be holding in the wide flat water where spotting structure was tough. A couple casts later though I caught another fish in this slower water. This one was a little bigger. Maybe 15 or 16 inches. I continued to work the wide current as best I could and was having no more luck when I decided it was time to go up and try the top of the riffle again before I left.Good move it turns out. As I waded up into the shallow water I thought I saw a fish porpoise in the ankle deep water on the inside of the main swift current. It was a little softer water but there wasn't much of it so I wondered if it was really a fish or if I had just seen some debris tumble through the current. I figured it couldn't hurt to throw a cast up there anyway. My indicator was rigged much too deep for the shallow current here and I failed to take time to adjust it so when I saw the indicator stop in it's drift I thought for sure it had snagged some mossy rocks. As I brought the rod tip up though the shallow water exploded and an angry brown charged from its shallow lie and headed across and downstream from me into the heavy current where it could really get the advantage on me. I ran downstream with it to keep from loosing too much leverage and finally caught up with it and worked it into the softer water near shore. This was another nice fish much like many of the fish here. I netted and released my third fish of my lunch break and headed back to the office refreshed.

The Frenzy

Here is a site to check out: flyfishingfrenzy.com

Some good fishing, and good entertainment. And they ran a fan photo contest on their facebook page a couple weeks ago that yielded myself a Frenzy hat. There were some good photos in the mix.

Good stuff, be sure to check them out.

Fishing Journal-Week 11

April 26-Chuck and Duck

Full disclosure time...I try and avoid nymphing, especially double nymph rigs, as much as possible. I have no reason other than it's a simple matter of preference. For me my preference comes from the answer to these two simple questions.

1. Would I rather cast a double nymph rig, with split shot, and a thingamabobber, or a #20 dry fly. Uh, no brainer, I hate casting a double nymph rig.

2. Would I rather watch my thingamabobber disappear and quickly set the hook hoping my fly is in a fish lip and not caught on some moss on the bottom again, or would I rather watch a big snout break the surface and inhale my #20 BWO? Again simple answer...seeing the take wins every time.

But there is a third question that trumps all and will eventually get me to switch over.

3. Do I want to cast that pretty little dry fly all day over fish that are not rising and catch nothing, or would I rather catch a fish? Because I am stubborn, and a little on the slow side, sometimes it takes me longer than it should to ask myself this third question but I eventually come around to it.

Well it took me three trips to the river, and watching crazy hatches coming off with not a single rise, to finally convince me that I needed to switch up my game plan. I made up my mind before even heading out for today's lunch on the river that the first thing I was going to do was tie up my favorite torture device, the double nymph rig.

I only had a half hour to fish by the time I finished switching everything over. New leader, new tippet, new flies, Split shot installed, thingamabobber engaged...off to the water. I tied on a attractor nymph that I think works well for both caddis and midge pupa, and a nymph I like to use in place of a pheasant tail, and went to work. It did not take long. On one of my first drifts my indicator jerked sideways and I pulled in an extremely aggressive 17 inch fish with a deformed mouth. His lower jaw looked like it had fairly recently been injured so I released him without a photo to avoid stressing him further. A couple casts later I was into a bigger fish that fought by simply laying on the bottom of the river and not budging. I had to use a lot of pressure to get him to me. I finally had him ready to land when he decided he had enough and made a hard run straight away. Before I could react and give him line the hook pulled free. As I examined the carnage I found that the pressure I had been forced to use had straightened my hook. That last run was too much and finished the job.

As I walked back to the truck after another successful lunch break I examined my leader. Hey, only two wind knots! Not bad for me.

Take Your Kids Fishing...

...you won't regret it!

A New Tie

Nope, not one of those fathers day gifts you never wear...a fly I have been playing with and after a minimal amount of testing has been successful so far. Some tweaks will come but for now it looks like this:
It's simple yet effective. I do think that a black bead at the head would make it a pretty good emerging caddis pupa imitation. That is the next step here but for now the recipe is here.

Hook: TMC 2457
Bead: Silver
Thread: Black 8/0
Tail: Partridge fibers
Body: Grey/Olive Turkey Biot
Thorax: Natural Possum
Wing: Partridge fibers

More Bugs

Well I made it out to the river yesterday but things are still a bit out of sorts from the raised water levels. There were bugs of all sorts, Blue Wing Olives; Pale Morning Duns; and Calibaetis, floating down the river but not a single fish rising to them. Instead I got to practice my bug photography.