Stay Home! The fishes don't have that option, however. So when water temps start to heat up it's best to fish toward the headwaters. Catching cold water species in warmer temperatures causes them undue stress and a good fight with a trout in warm water can mean death for the fishy. Today I headed about 25 minutes south of town, to the headwaters of my local stream, in search of some chunk-tastic brookies. During lunch today I cleared a space on my cluttered tying desk and tied up some cinnamon flavored Skittering Caddis, tied chunky for those hungry Goliaths.
These things had my mouth watering! I got to the stream around 6:30 and headed up stream to some deep holes running along a big rock outcropping.
These little pools were chocked full of brookies eager to take the fly. With little room to cast, my skills were put to the test, but I didn't snap off any flies and I only got hung up a few times.
These two both measured about 12 inches, the biggest brookies of the day.
This was the last spot I hit. The pool was around 4 feet deep and full of fishes. I pulled out about ten brookies. As I made my way to the end of the pool I saw a decent sized fish rising inches away from the undercut rock. My first cast bounced off the rock and right into the feeding lane under which the biggun was positioned. After a short drift I saw a sip and swirl so I waited a second and set the hook. My drag screamed for a minute, but with little room to run I pulled him in with ease. After I caught, photoed, and released him I noticed another rising in the same area. I made an identical cast with identical results. Both fish were healthy rainbows of about 14 inches.
I decided to head home a little earlier than usual, but on my way home I passed a big pool with rings covering the surface. I never really gave the spot much thought because it's always full of campers. I parked right next to the water and took a cast. On each of my first 4 casts I pulled in a little brookie. I saw a few decent fish rising but I didn't tie into any of them. After a little exploring I decided I'll check the area out further when I have time to hike into the dense woods and really fish it.
Overall, today was a good day of fishing. I caught around 35 trout on the cinnamon colored Skittering Caddis, 6 on my own invention, and 1 ambitious brookie on a huge grasshopper pattern. Lately I've been itching to tie into a few big trout, so stay tuned. I'll probably formulate a game plan to find some big trout in the next few weeks!
No comments:
Post a Comment