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Well, patience has finally paid off.
Today Amelia & I had a mis-communication that cost me. I told her that I
wanted to go fishing today at 2 P.M. She thought she was coming, but what
I wanted was a lift and drop off at one bridge then be picked up at 5:45
at another. She could have come, but for some reason I wanted to go solo
and explore a bit.
Big mistake!
I walked the first 2/3 mile to get away from the "people factor" and
then settled in for a slow, methodical walk up the shore. The river was
up again today, right to the grass on either side of the stream.
Visibility wasn't too bad. Today was the first day of heat for a week,
hence I decided I better get to the river to see if any stones would be
out. As I walked 3 salmonflies hummed past before I saw the great
variety that was there. Skwalas, yellow sallies, and some other species
I hadn't come across yet. Fair enough.
I tried my luck at a riffle Amelia caught a nice 17" brown out of before
the water came up. Nothing doing, the water was too deep and murky in
that one today. I kept walking.
I got up above a log jam along shore. A splashy rise tweaked my
curiosity. I sauntered into the water and waited for another rise. I
was obliged. I then cast out my #12 stimulator and didn't get a take. I
cast again. Suddenly there was a rise about 15 yards upstream. "Damn, I
lined 'em" I insisted to myself. But no. The first fish rose again. I
cast and hooked the fish, a 15" brown. It jumped once and then I landed
it. Oddly, the fish just upstream continued to rise . . .odd considering
it looked to be big and in but inches of water; surely it would have
spooked. But it continued to rise.
I sat and watched.
It continued to rise.
I'd like to tell you that I cast and the fish took on my first try. I
will because that's exactly what happened! I had worked out from the
bank from the fish and angled my cast back to shore to avoid lining it
in the shallow water. The big brown turned and came downstream at me to
take. When hooked it just sat in the meandering current. "Okay, I'll
just take him in to shore," I thought.
ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZ went
the reel as the trout tore to the backing. It came back in. And jumped!
It fought very well. (am I really going to complain!?) I almost had it
to net when it tore out again. The rod was corked this time. I brought
it in. Folks, I finally got a monster. 27-1/2" a BEEEEG Brown trout!
Male, ugly nobs for lips and all.
Then I discovered my error in telling Amelia not to come.
NO CAMERA!!! NO PHOTO!
Hate that!
The big fella was full of life and swan away rapidly.
I worked my way upstream. About another 20 yards to be exact. Another
snout!
I won't go into too much detail on this one except to tell you it was
20-1/2" and tore me into the backing and jumped way out in the river.
WOW!!!
As I released that fish, the big fella below me rose again and picked up
his feeding cycle right where I had interrupted it!
In the 2 hours I had to fish today, I was fortunate to land 6 browns
(about 15, 17, 18, 20, 20-1/2, and 27-1/2"). I had two others throw me,
one other take, and I spooked one from its feeding lane as I made up
time trying to get to my take out in time. All on dry flies!
Hope you don't mind the brag session here, I am just SO excited about
this one. Outside of about 5 murky water days in late May, this spring
has been a constant mind boggling experience. I won't tell you that all
have been so big (cause they haven't) but there's been a steady stream
of some seriously kick butt trout feeding on the surface! My previous
biggest brown was 25" (also this spring) which tied one from several
years ago. Can you tell I am all twitched up?
I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did on stream today! ~ Dave Jensen
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