Lunch Hour Chronicles

[Ron Eagle Elk]

KD,

Beautiful fish. Looks to be well worth the wait. What size midges are you using? What hook are you using?

REE

[KeatonsDad]

REE,

I was using a #22 midge pattern tied on a TMC2488 hook. I usually like this hook a lot for those tiny dries and emergers but lately have had a steady problem with getting the hook to find flesh. For smaller flies do you have a hook that you prefer more than others?

[Ron Eagle Elk]

KD,

Sorry to take so long geting back to you. I've been very happy with a Daiichi 1130. I seem to have the best hook up ratio with them, but that's just my experience. They have a nice off set of the hook point and the hook gap seems to be a bit larger.

REE

[KeatonsDad]

KD,

Sorry to take so long geting back to you. I've been very happy with a Daiichi 1130. I seem to have the best hook up ratio with them, but that's just my experience. They have a nice off set of the hook point and the hook gap seems to be a bit larger.

REE

Thanks REE. I will try those. I think I even have a pack of them. I know I tried them out for some nymphs and I had no problems. Today, still using my TMC 2488's I had a different problem. I straightened two hooks on consecutive fish. They were nice fish too. Big fish story to follow.


So here is today's report sans pics. I hesitate to even post sometimes when I don't get pics of my outing because I feel like I am just rambling on, but I guess if you want to read it you will and if not feel free to skip it.

I headed out for a short outing as things have been busy at work. The roads are slick as a snow storm over the weekend dumped about 8 inches of show in places and that canyon keeps pretty shaded so the road is a sheet of ice still. I took my time and was glad when I noticed a couple rises in one of my favorite runs that is lower down on the river. It helped eliminate a lot of slow driving. I pulled off and geared up, but by the time I was ready to hit the water the rises had really slowed down.

I was worried I may have missed the hottest action but continued down to the river anyway. The flat was long and shallow and the water was crystal clear so wading up to the fish was a slow process, making sure not to cast much of a wake. By the time I got in position I gathered enough info from the rises I was seeing to tell that there were just two fish working about 15 feet apart at the bottleneck at the top of this flat. The rises were sporadic. Three or four minutes would pass with nothing then each fish would rise 4 or 5 times in succession. I stripped out the line I thought I would need and waited for one of the heads to show. Time slows something fierce when you are waiting for a rising fish to show up again.

I almost started to wonder if I hadn't spooked them from their lie when a subtle ring appeared 25 feet in front of me. I quickly loaded my rod and fired a cast that landed a bit short of where I was hoping it would. The small fly was impossible to see, yet almost as soon as it lit on the water I saw another rise just about where I thought it landed. I set the hook on nothing. The fly pulled up and looked like it had in deed been a couple inches away from where the feed had been. Worried again that I may have spooked this fish I settled in and waited for something to show. Sure enough a couple minutes later another rise a bit to the left, but at the same time the other fish across the narrow channel and also in easy casting range also showed himself.

I made a snap decision to cast to that fish and give the other one a bit more time to forget about my snafu and settle into a groove. My fly landed perfectly about 5 feet in front of the growing ring of the previous rise and I knew this would be a good drift. As the fly closed the gap the fish rose again about 2 feet from my fly. It was going to float right over the fish. I tensed anticipating the slurp but I got taught a lesson. No big slurp on this take. My fly simply disappeared. Not even a ripple. At first I thought it had maybe just sunk in the film, then a couple seconds late I finally just brought the rod tip up. More on instinct than actually thinking the fish took it. Sure enough I felt the hard tug of a big brown doing back flips under the water. He fought doggedly, and pulled hard, and I worked him hard trying to keep him away from the other fish that had been rising to his left.

I managed to do this but as I brought the fish in close and got my first look at a very nice Brown I had the sickening feeling of a rod recoiling and sudden slack. A quick examination of the hook revealed it had straightened out on me. While bummed I chose to put it behind me and focus on the other nice fish that had again settled into a steady rhythm straight upstream from me.

I quickly tied on a new fly, same pattern, just as the fish ended another midges escape attempts with a gulp. The cast fell nicely above the feed and just like clockwork the big nose rose from the depths, engulfing the tiny fly. I set the hook and for the second time in minutes felt the heavy pressure of a big fish trying to roll it's way to freedom. Again the fight lasted long enough for me to get a good view of a fish that was nearly the firsts twin when it came to size, then sudden slack. Another look at the new hook revealed it too was straightened.

Bad batch of hooks, or me putting to much pressure on a big fish, I don't know but it was at the same time thrilling and disappointing. I will be trying this pattern on a new hook though real soon. The pattern is money, the hooks, not so much. Til next time.

[JohnScott]

Excellent narrative, Benji. No pix needed.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

I agree with John. Nice read. Hard to have fishy pics when your hooks straighten out.

REE

[crook33]

I agree with both of them.
I like the 2488 H hooks for exactly the reason you had trouble. Only problem might be the fact that they are heavier and your imitation might tend to sink more easily.

Rich

[KeatonsDad]

I haven't had time to get to the vise to tie up any midges on hooks other than the 2488's I have been using, and today, it didn't matter. Things went as planned. Didn't miss any strikes, and no hooks got straightened out. That alone made me happy.

I only fished for a total of 25 minutes today. I drove all the way up the river seeing nary a rise in the obvious spots visible from the road. So on the way back down the river I decided to stop at one of my favorite spots that is a little off the road and see what if anything was happening there. It didn't take long to see why this is one of my favorite spots. I peeked through the willows and spotted 6 feeding fish both upstream, and downstream of my entry point. In the short time I had on the water I was able to target three of those fish and I fooled AND landed two of them. The last fish was still stubbornly feasting on midges as I had to drag myself out of the water needing badly to get back to the office. That was a hard one to do but I knew I could waste a lot of time on that fish if I stuck around. There were so many naturals on the water it was not just a matter of getting the pattern right, but having the fish pick mine out of all the available food.

The first fish was a nice 20" Brown sitting in a seam across the river just on the other side of a nice sized rock. This fish did not fight at all. I landed it in about 5 seconds. I was only casting from maybe 15 feet away and so as soon as I hooked up I just drug him over and he happened to just slide right into my net.



After releasing this fish I noticed another fish feeding about 5 feet in front of where I caught this fish. I decided it would be fun to try and pull two fish out of the small seam so I made a try for it. It only took a couple casts and I was again hooked up. This fish was much different than the first. It took off downstream busting up a pod of three fish that had been sipping regularly then it turned upstream, around a big boulder and slugged it out in a deep hole behind another big rock. I was flabbergasted at how hard this fish was fighting but when I got it in close I saw why. It was not one of the usual suspects on this river but was a nice fat 15" rainbow. Of all the fish I caught this last year here this is only the second rainbow I have caught. It is amazing how much harder this smaller fish fought.



So no straightened hooks, no missed strikes, it all went as planned today. Another great day with the midges.

[Ron Eagle Elk]

Okay, now I'm drooling over the fish pictures as we get hammered by even more rain. Flood watches in effect for local rivers, so fishing them is out of the question. Great report. Thanks for sharing your great time on the water.

REE

[mudpie]

So I went out for a morning fish for the first time in over a week. I have been having withdrawals as I had some dental work done this week that kind of messed up my routine. I did get out one evening this week and hammered them on hoppers again. Today I decided I was tired of straining to see little midge and trico patterns in the mornings so I wanted to see if those fish rising for the little bugs would be enticed to take a little bigger meal in the form of a hopper even this early in the AM. The real hoppers hadn't woke up yet as I walked down the path to the river I didn't see a single one, where a couple days ago in the evening they had been thick. It turns out the fish don't care, they were more than willing to break away from their small bugs and suck down a meaty hopper for breakfast. It was a great morning with some of the biggest fish I have caught in a while.

The first fish of the morning


The nicest fish of the morning, out of a whole batch of nice fish. This one passed the 20" notch on the handle of my net.


A look at the fly I tied up last night in action. It works, as this nice 18" fish can attest to.


The smallest fish of the day, but this 12 incher had shoulders far beyond it's years and a bad attitude as well.


Some B&W.


Finally as I waded down stream to head back to my truck I noticed this guy nosing around in some shallow calm water right off the bank. I flipped my beat up hopper pattern just above him and was rewarded with a fine fish to end my morning.


Here's a shot of what that hopper looked like last night.



It was a little chewed up after this morning...


...but it'll still fish.

Looks like the Hopper Juan pattern from Colorado. A good pattern! http://hopperjuan.blogspot.com/