First off, I caught a load of little brookies last night.
Today I got out hoping to find some hungry fishes. Temps reached the high 30's and while I did not check stream temps I can assure you it was damn cold! It was cloudy with flurries throughout this outing and the stream had just enough color to make the most stealthy of approach unnecessary. My friends Shawn and Josh accompanied me today. I started out fishing the San Juan Worm.
I immediately landed a bunch of average sized browns on the SJW. Before long I noticed midges buzzing about and decided to try a pattern I've never fished before. I tied on a size 18 Pheasant Tail Emerger and landed four or five smaller trout in short order. On a particularly good cast I watched a nice high teens trout run at the fly with his shoulders out of the water. He missed! At this point Sean and Josh caught up having each landed a few.
I decided to go back to the worm to see if he'd fall for it. I'm not sure if this was the one that bullrushed the emerger but he put up a great fight.
This also could have been the one. It would have been pretty sweet to land this guy on an emerger. It was still cool to fight and land this fish with witnesses! After releasing him we continued up stream. We each landed a few more before the day was done. Fish ate the Pink San Juan Worm, Pheasant Tail Emerger, Pink Squirrel of Prey, and Flashback Pheasant Tail.
If interested in fishing any of the flies used today buy 'em up at Whitewater Valley Flies
Do you ever take the water temperature before you fish? One creek I visited today was at 38 degrees so I left and found another one at 40 degrees. Still pretty cold but I hooked three and landed one trout. No rising activity whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteNever check the temps. I try to minimize the stuff I carry on stream but I have been considering picking up a thermometer. If you were fishing further north I'd suspect that those streams saw more snow melt than the ones south of I90. Boy were they poppin' though!
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