I've been dancing with 20 inch rainbows in my dreams for the last two nights. Today I had to wet a line so I headed to my home stream for a short two hour outing. I was going to take a friend and teach him to fly fish, but he didn't answer his phone so I decided to go solo. Skies were clear and temperatures were mild so I wasn't sure what to expect as far as hatches. After a short drive I approached the stream only to find no fish rising. I tied on a fly given to me by a good friend, kind of a cross between a minnow invitation and a wooly bugger, and launched it into the first deep run that I approached.
The fly was well constructed, had great action against as well as with the current, and enticed the trout to strike multiple times if they failed to connect. After catching a few on the Gilberson Special I started to spot a few risers. I switched to an Elk Hair Stimulator which drove the brookies wild!
The Gilberson Special killed 'em in this pool!
After hitting a few pools I decided to focus on the shallow riffles where I'd seen some decent fish swirl.
I pulled a few decent fish out of this riffle.
After focusing on riffles for a bit I started to see more fish rising so my attention returned to the deeper pools. I fished the first .5 miles of this stretch of stream in the past so I hurried through to explore some new water. I found one really deep pool. I scrambled onto shore and crawled to the middle of the pool to see if I could spot any bigguns. What I saw put a stupid smile on my face...
Resting on the bottom, I spotted a school of large brookies just waiting for something tasty to float by. Unfortunately, as soon as got to my knees they scattered, muddying the pool and dashing my chances of catching a personal best brookie. The biggest one looked to be around 17-18 inches! I will certainly return to this pool more cautious and better prepared.
I continued on to find a stretch of a half dozen substantial pools, all loaded with trout!
These two came from the above pool. Who ever said big fish don't appreciate a good view? Both around 13 inches, they put up a good fight, dashing back and forth trying to tangle me in the brush that lined the banks.
A few good spots later I found a good looking run covered in brush. It was the kind of spot most fly fishermen would skip in fear of losing a fly. The stimulator drifted down stream as I fed line through the guides of my rod. As the fly approached some brush hanging in the current I saw a massive flash that caused my drag to scream. The beast knew what he was doing. There was little I could do as he tangled me in the brush, shook his head, and swam away. I got my fly back but he may as well have taken it. His teeth left the fly mangled and unusable. Again a potential personal record brookie bested me. Defeated, I decided to call it a day. I came upon some campsites and found my way to the road. I had hiked about 1.5 miles of river and 1 mile on the road to return to the car. Overall, it was a great trip. I caught 20-30 trout (all brookies except 1 cuttbow) with a larger average size than normal, about 11 inches. I also got a great workout with all that hiking. And I saw 14 mule deer on the drive home.
Stay Tuned: The wife and I are probably going out Thursday night!
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