Winter rises

Have you ever taken a trip to your favorite river, left your fly rod at home on purpose, and just spent some time observing what goes on there?  It is a good exercise and one I do a couple times a year at least.  When I am on the river fishing there are definite lessons to be learned but still much can be missed when the focus is turned to the desired result of catching fish rather than on the process that brought that fish to the surface to begin with.  Taking time to truly focus on simply watching what goes on during a hatch is a learning experience that can pay dividends on future trips.

Today I felt the itch to get out and do a little poking around up the canyon.  It has been a couple months since I have taken a real fishing trip out here to the river I hit 2-3 times a week during the summer months.  The river that I last fished with the summer sun beating down on it, and with grasshoppers overtaking the surrounding willows has changed quite a bit.  A stretch of cold weather and a real good snow storm meant the slow stretches were covered in ice and the surrounding landscape was covered in a fresh white cloak.  The river is beautiful, but it no longer is teaming with insect life and visible signs of fish in the river are far less abundant.  The hoppers have long ago been killed off but there is a bug that hatches this time of year that will still bring these fish to the top.  The midge.

As I drove the long winding road along the icy river today though I saw no tell tale rings on the glassy waters surface that would indicate fish were taking advantage of this winter time snack.  Finally at one of my favorite holes to fish in the early mornings up here in the summer I spotted the first rise ring of the day.  I hopped out of the truck with my camera and went about doing a little recon.

There are at least 6 rise forms visible in this picture (Click the picture to Enlarge) as soon after I arrive at this hole the water started rolling with rising fish

Then I spotted this nice fish feeding in the foam that was pushed up into the near bank.

 This fish was fun to watch and I spent most of my time on him.  It was a very nice trout, probably one of the rivers many 20 inchers.  He was feeding in a 10 foot circle that stretched from the near rock you can see out to the submerged rock you can see just beyond him in the above picture.  Several times the big fish had to chase out other trout that happened to wander into his little area.  You could tell that this fish owned this spot and had the bulk and seniority to hold it. 

The big trout rose to pluck bugs from the surface quite a bit, but spent most of it's time darting back and forth feeding subsurface on the drifting midge pupa attempting to reach the surface.

This and the next picture were in sequence.  He is rising here...

...after a subtle rise he slips back beneath the surface.

This picture shows the big fish feeding on the far right while you can see the rise ring in the upper left hand corner of another fish.  The bigger fish would protect the area stretching from the submerged rock right in front of the snow capped rock on the shore out to the submerged rock you can see just to the right of the rise ring of the smaller fish.  If that fish ever got any closer than the rise in this picture the big daddy was over there to chase it out.

Another angle of the bigger fish rising with the rise ring of the smaller fish about as close to it as the king would let it get to his area.  The rises of the big fish always were much more subtle and disturbed the water far less than his smaller competitor who seemed to always leave a very large ring on the waters surface.

So it was fun to just sit and observe today.  Now I look forward to returning with the tools to put some steel in the corner of that big fish's jaw.

Heads or Tails

These takes get the blood flowing.  It's a big part of what fly fishing is all about for me.  That moment where a big fish you have spotted, and stalked rises to your offering.  A quiet rush. 

heads or tails from Todd Moen Creative on Vimeo.

Fishing Trout in a Desert Oasis

There is a little trickle of water that cuts through a steep rocky canyon not far from where I work that I never had considered fishing until I was hiking around out there a few weeks ago.  As I hopped from rock to rock across the creek in one spot  I was surprised to see a nice little trout take off in water that was not even deep enough to cover his back.  So today I headed back up this trail to see if any of those little guys would eat an artificial fly.

I kept things simple.  A couple Sparkle Duns in a small plastic box, tucked into my shirt pocket, and my 3 weight fly rod.  I made my way up the quarter mile trail to a nice little waterfall of about 30-40 feet (just a guess).  It's a pretty little spot and the fact that trout do in fact live in these waters is amazing to me.  Trout are very sensitive to high water temps and this creek runs out of some of the hottest high desert in the state.  The summer sun gets to be blistering here but the steep canyon walls and overhanging rocks and brush shade this little stream just enough to keep the temps within a livable range for the native Columbia Basin Redband Trout that swim here. 

As I arrived at the biggest and deepest pool right below the waterfall I could see several splashes from aggressively feeding fish.  I tossed the small fly in and almost immediately it was engulfed by a hungry little trout.  I continued to catch several small trout, the biggest ran in the 6-7 inch range.  Still they actually could put a nice little bend in my light weight rod.  These would not be considered trophy's in their size, but they are fish to be admired none the less.

 I was having fun, catching a fish on nearly every cast when I decided to try and land the fly as close to the base of the cliff to the right of the water fall as I could.  The rocks there looked a bit undercut by the current and I wondered if there was maybe a chance of a little larger fish lying in wait back in a shelter little nook.  The fly landed perfectly and as it drifted just an inch off the edge of the rock face it was suddenly sucked down.  I set the hook on what was probably a monster fish for this little water.  The fish ended up going a full 10 inches in length, indeed a trophy in this little desert trickle.  With a blazing red stripe down it's side that expanded to cover it's entire head the colors on this fish were amazing even to this colorblind fisherman. 

So I learned again that when fishing it's not always about chasing 20 inch hawgs.  There is something to be said for keeping things simple.  Fishing small waters for small fish that have adapted to live in conditions that would prove hostile to some of their very near cousins.  One has to pause and admire these fish, no matter what their size.

Down by the Lake

 

A Duck Takes Flight

The kids throwing some leaves around

 

A Walk in the Canyon

A Morning Hike in the Desert

I have not been fishing in a while due to the local river's browns being in the midst of their spawn.  So in lieu of disturbing the Browns, busy creating the next generation, I decided this morning to take a hike in the desert near my office.  I took the camera and snapped a few hasty shots.  Lighting wasn't perfect this morning but it was nice to just get out and burn some calories and try and get back into the photography mode.

First off I ran into this guy on the trail up.  Kind of a freaky looking and very large insect that I found out later appears to be a Jerusalem Cricket.

The big Orb making it's appearance, and in the upper left corner an early morning flight probably filled with business travelers heads east.

Looking out over the valley from the top of the trail.  Out there somewhere is my office.

Another look at the Valley.

 

Fishing Journal - Week 31

September 29

First cast back from vacation

 

Love the early morning sun bouncing off the hills and reflecting on the river.

September 30

Another fish eating hoppers before it was light enough to really even see the hopper

Here is Old Snaggle Tooth again. 

 

Mahogany Spinner