Ben, once again, you ROCK! Nice report and pics. Keep 'em coming.
Kelly.
Ben, once again, you ROCK! Nice report and pics. Keep 'em coming.
Kelly.
Tight Lines,
Kelly.
"There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home."
Roderick Haig-Brown, "Fisherman's Spring"
KD, your description of the area and the creek remind me of Ted Trueblood, long time writer for Field & Stream. In some of his great articles he spoke of just such a creek, which i won't
name, but it sounds like you've flyfished where he once did. Nice pix of those little rainbows, thanks !
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
December Midge Sipper
Long time no post. I broke my two month plus leave of absense from my favorite local lunch spot as a celebration of sorts for having made it through one more year of life. Yeah I am a year older today, so I am thinking I should be a year wiser. We will see.
A couple days ago I headed up the river just to scout things out and make sure the fish were off the spawning beds and that things were getting back to normal up there. Sure enough despite some recent cold temps and a whole lot of snow I found a nice pod of fish up sipping midges in a foam line. I didn't bring my rod on that outing, only a camera, but I knew that in a couple days I would be heading back up armed with the long rod.
Here are a couple of the pics I took of the river last Friday:
So today I made it official and gave myself a little b'day present and headed out for a couple hours. Today's weather is not quite as nice and sunny as it was on the day the above pics were snapped. In fact it is down right cold and foggy. The drive up took a bit longer than it usually takes but I pulled off the road at one of the runs I frequently find fish up feeding even in the cold of winter. Sure enough I quickly spotted a smattering of rise rings and then caught the flash of a white mouth as a nice fish nabbed a bug right below me as I stood high on the bank. I quickly rigged up, tied on my favorite transitional midge pattern and waded in the frigid waters. My very first cast right down a foam line seam brought a big nose up as it slurped down my fly. I set the hook but the small bug came free. Still it was encouraging to get the blood flowing so soon on a frigid December day.
I continued moving up the run looking for more noses. I missed another take a few minutes later and was starting to think to myself that it was cool to see those fish take your fly but it would be even better to feel a prolonged tug on the other end.
Time was dwindling and I needed to get back to the office when I noticed another fish working very subtly in the nervous water right below a small riffle. One more cast. And it paid off. The take was barely noticeable but it didn't escape my straining eye, and I brought my rod tip up bringing a burst of activity on the other end. Soon I netted a skinny 17 inch December Brown. While not an exceptionally beautiful fish, I was none the less satisfied with the chance to get out and find a dry fly slurping trout on this cold and foggy day.
Really good to see the place and you again Ben. Happy Birthday too.
Either you're part polar bear or it wasn't as cold as it looks ?
Rich
"Growin up leads to growin old and then to dyin. Dyin to me don't sound like all that much fun." J Mellencamp
Thanks Rich.
It really wasn't too bad temp wise. I only fished about 45 minutes so I didn't bother bundling up to much. It was 28 degrees when I got out of truck and rigged up. No breeze at all though and that really helps.
Man, that is some beautiful country you fish in. Nice looking fish, perhaps spawned out. Nice to see what you look like as well.
REE
Happiness is wading boots that never have a chance to dry out.
Nice report KD and i'd say your bday present to yourself besides the fishing would have to be the pictures....good ones !
Birthday cheers,
MontanaMoose
Ben, glad to see a little of my cold-weather tenacity is rubbing off. Great shots and beautiful fish. Again, Happy Birthday and best fishing wishes, brother.
Kelly.
Tight Lines,
Kelly.
"There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home."
Roderick Haig-Brown, "Fisherman's Spring"
Thanks REE. It is a pretty area. And this time of year there is plenty of solitude, which is a welcome change up there. Like you I think it was a spawned out female. She was very healthy and full of energy, just very snakey.Originally Posted by Ron Eagle Elk
Thanks for the comment MM. It was a great Bday to finally get out on the water again after a long hiatus. Hopefully I can sneak away a couple more times this month before the holidays hit.
Yes my friend your cold weather reports got me motivated. The nicest thing about fishing this time of year is having your pick of the best spots on the river. Basically drive the river until you find fish rising, get out and start plucking them off. Best of luck to you in your upcoming operation. Next year we will hit a river somewhere together I hope.
I made it up two days in a row on my lunch hour this week. Yesterday was a bit of a disappointment because I got into fish big time but failed to hook and land even one.
I drove up the canyon looking for heads up but all of my usual places were either occupied, very muddy because of some recent melt off, or simply dead. Finally I parked the truck and did a little exploring on foot and found a very nice flat with a bottleneck at the head in which there were several fish feeding regularly. I quickly jumped into my frozen waders, and boots, grabbed my rod and waded in just below the pod of midge sippers. Quickly it became evident I had the fly these fish wanted but the takes were so soft setting the hook without pulling the hook out became the problem. Over the course of the next 45 minutes I had at least 6 nice fish sip my fly only to have the hook pull free on the set, no matter how soft. It was discouraging and exciting at the same time. Suddenly at about 2:30 things just shut off like a switch was flipped and a run that had just had more dimples than a golf ball was smooth as glass. I packed up and vowed to return today.
So today I arrived at the same run at the same time of day, but things were a lot more sparse. In fact so sparse it was difficult fishing to find a fish that was feeding more often than once every 5 minutes. Finally I decided to hit another spot I like a little lower down on the river. I arrived at my new location and snuck in between the thick willows along the bank and peeked into the run to see what, if anything, was happening here. The first fish I spotted was 20 feet downstream of where I waded in and it was feeding regularly. I knew this was a player I could get if I played my cards right. I floated the #22 Harrop's Transitional midge over it's head and like clockwork watched it disappear into a big swirl. I brought the rod tip up to heavy pressure, then gone. Same problem I had yesterday. Not to be deterred I turned my attention up stream and quickly spotted a subtle feed next to a big boulder. This was not a very regular feeder and it took a couple fruitless casts to get the rhythm right but finally we connected, and this time the hook held. The cold water made for a bit of a sluggish fight but It was clear this was a heavy fish. Finally I slid another nice December dry fly fish into the net and felt much better.
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