A wet day, but the river was generous...
I stopped at a river at about 11:00 this morning. It was high and discoloured, but I thought there was enough visibility that it might be fishable. None of the usual suspects were around. I fished until 4:00, when the all day drizzle turned into a hard downpour, and didn't see another fisherman.
When I started casting, there were no bugs on the water. I tied on a streamer and caught a scrappy 12 incher right away. I learned quickly that there were good trout feeding in riffles I often walk through in lower water. A little upriver, I hooked and lost a big trout in a very fast riffle. A number of trout flashed after my streamer in this stretch of river. I tried a couple different flies with similar results.
By noon there were a few olives coming off the water, and by 2:30, there was a sporadic Hendrickson emergence in the rain. I tried a usual, but the trout were not feeding off the surface at all. A switch to a tan soft-hackle took a good trout from a corner first cast.
The river very generously gave up a number of browns to me today, none smaller than 12 inches. As usual, I released all my trout. The biggest was around 18 inches, a beauty in this stream. Too bad I left my camera in the dry car! I hooked the big one in a deceptively good run from which I've caught a number of fine trout in the past couple seasons. It's in a stretch which looks a little thin in lower water, but which holds quite a few good browns. There is a fast riffle that flows into a deepish flat for just a few feet before the stream tumbles into another fast riffle.
I've fished this stream in the rain many times over the years. Most times, I just get wet. Every once in a while though, I do very well in these conditions. I wonder if the trout were so active because the rain was warming the water? I don't know if it was the high water or Hendrickson nymphs that brought the bigger trout out into the riffles.
By 4:00 the now hard rain made fishing longer a fools game. It poured on me for the entire 35 minute walk back to the car, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
posted by mister anchovy at 10:03 PM
2 Comments:
Interesting how the trout respond to high and/or murky water. It seems like all of the rules change at the whim of the river.
Or as my buddy says, " Just when you think you have it all figured out, you don't."
Sounds like a you had a great day.
I got into some Brookies yesterday but like your experience,they were where I found them rather then where I expected them to be. Each one was a pleasant surprise.
Cheers,
Steve
This is a river I've fished for many many years, and I tend to fish particular spots that I know hold good trout, and sometimes I pass over water without really thinking about it. With the water high, everything looks different. That's what got me fishing stretches and runs and riffles I might not otherwise have tried. I think there's a lesson there somewhere.
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