Surprise Ending

I headed out solo again with the intention of throwing a large double bunny in the deepest holes I could find in order to catch a hog. I am a newbie when it comes to streamers and I wanted to stick with it the whole day. I think it was too sunny and warm since there were no takers in my feeble attempts to dredge up a leviathan. I may have seen one follow but that was about it. After the first swimming pool style hole I headed up to another part of the river to hit a few more of the truly deep parts of the river. I was disappointed to find the first one occupied. I headed upstream to the second one...occupied as well. I didn't have enough time to head up or downstream looking for likely spots but when walking from the first to the second hole I noticed a slight depression that ran along the bank. It was small but I thought some fish could be holding in it. I switched to a nymph rig and after a drift or two I was delighted to have a little spunky rainbow on the end of my line. After releasing him the same thing happened on my next set of drifts, then the next and so on. This little run seemed chock full of rainbows. Since most of them were missing a few fins I think they were immature males coming out of the reservoir and staging for the upcoming spawn. Too bad I did not nab any hens which most likely would have been a bit larger. Regardless, it was a nice surprise ending to another slow day with the streamer.

Midges N' Bridges

I headed out solo on a blustery day with the intention to throw streamers for aggressive trout. I was not having much luck with the streamer but when I was beside a bridge I looked underneath into the shadows and noticed fish rising. I saw some midges and maybe a blue winged olive or two so I switched from throwing the meat to a small dry. It was very difficult to get a good downstream drift under the bridge and it was equally hard to cast up under it from the other side. Luckily the hatch turned on strong enough for a few minutes to bring a few fish up that were sitting on the downstream side of the bridge. I got a good take from an inconsistent riser and the fish did a nice acrobatic display before being landed. I think the fish was just as surprised as I was hence the aerial antics. It was a beautiful specimen and was a perfect end to a few hours of fishing.

Stillwater Cutts

Jim invited me to head up to a local stillwater with him and David to meet up with Newman, a generous friend of theirs that took us out in his boat. I brought the fly rod along but my Dad's 11 foot spinning rod was so fun to cast I stuck with it the whole day. I worked the water for a bit with Jim's fly rod but did not manage any hookups. The day was not fast as far as fishing goes but it was a great day and everyone caught fish. The highlight was a 23 inch cutthroat that Newman caught. Jim also managed to land a fish on the fly rod which was fun for him. We spent the majority of the time trolling tube jigs and the infamous red or white rabbit. Once we got caught in a downpour accompanied by some gale force winds which was a lot of fun. It was great to be out on the water and fun to be out in a boat for a change.

Unexpected catch by David

Newman's hog

Freak storm

Jim's fish on the fly

Woolley Buggered trout

Cruising

A fish I caught on a castmaster. I could bomb the lure out a couple hundred feet it seemed with my dad's 11 footer.

Mysterious floating fish

A Few Browns

David and I decided to head up to a popular tailwater that receives a lot of pressure but usually has some good fishing. The morning started out slow but after mixing things up by putting on a bugger and letting it swing I landed a decent brown.


After a few hours some egg laying caddis starting showing and quite a few fish were slashing at them near the surface. David soon had a taker on a caddis dry fly.


Nymphing was proving to be very slow for some reason this day however David eventually got another fish that ate a San Juan worm.


It was a fun time out on the river and it left us thinking about different tactics, time frames, and waters to fish in the near future.

High Country Cutts

For a change of pace David and I headed up to the high country for some feisty cutthroats. When we got to the reservoir fish were rising and we could not resist. We muddied our shoes but got within casting distance and soon I was hooked up with a nice little cutthroat.

Soon after David nailed a nice one which turned out to be the fish of the trip (size wise).





We then headed down to the stream and soon David hooked up with a beautiful cutthroat decorated in a beautiful regalia.

We worked our way down stream and noticed a lot of spooky fish in the calmer water. We resisted the temptation for the most part and headed down to "easier" water to fish. We spent the next several hours hiking downstream and casting to the likely spots which was often rewarded with gorgeous cutthroat trout smacking our flies with reckless abandon. I'll let some pictures tell the rest of the story for the most part.





















After several hours we were beat and ready to head back toward the car. We managed a few more fish on the way back and when we got to the lake some fish were still rising. Again, we could not resist the temptation and David quickly hooked up but the fish ran him down into the weeds and got off. The scenery could not be beat nor the fishing, and the best part of all was that we did not see another fisherman on the stream the whole day. I can't wait to head back up to the high country with a fly rod in hand, heading to some small stream where hungry trout are willing to fight over my fly.