Trip Report: It Was The Best of Times

It was the worst of times. I woke up to overhearing my wife on the phone with the vet. Our pooch swallowed a bone that was too big for her to digest so $1200.00 later my day was off to a "worst of times" kind of start. I planned to fish a stream close to home that I've never fished. I've had a few occasions when I planned to hit this spot but things always came up and I just never got to it. I arrived on stream around 9am and with crystal clear waters and partly cloudy skies began to ply the waters of the creek with the trusty San Juan Worm.

 Because the stream was so clear and the skies were so sunny fish scattered with every foot step. These fish took the worm on monster casts. I had to downsize my indicator as well since fish would scatter when the larger one hit the water. This stream is full of debris and boulders which makes it ideal habitat for lots of small to mid sized trout. After landing around 30 trout I decided to move a little quicker up stream to see what the more rugged stretches of this creek have to offer.

A few miles up I approached the king of all beaver dams. It was the shape of an 8 with a tail pool and a head pool. Separating the two pools was a beaver hut with some full trees pulled in the water. I waded in and began casing the SJ Worm at the tail end of the pool. While admiring my surroundings I pulled back to cast and missed a fish that had nipped the worm. At this point I decided to give streamer fishing a shot. The only streamer I had in my box was a Mohair Leech pattern that I tied up one day out of boredom.

After missing a decent little thump I decided to move toward the head pool. I eased across the left side of the 8, opposite the beaver hut. There was a tree overhead and as I began to ease around the overhanging branches I spotted two absolute beast brown trout sitting on the bottom. I waited until the sun passed behind the clouds before carefully easing under the overhanging branches. The sun came out again and stopped me in my tracks. The sun cloaked again behind the clouds after a brief moment and I again eased forward. When I reached a decent point to attempt a cast I stood with branches behind me and two huge trout twenty feet ahead of me. My first cast spooked them both. I lobbed a roll cast across the sluggish current, waited for the fly to drop, and gave a few twitches...nothing. I repeated and again nothing. I then spotted the smaller of the two beasts around 30 feet ahead. I launched a heroic cast and the fly managed to twist around and land 10 feet ahead of it's target. Again I waited, twitched, and BOOM, it's on! After a sluggish battle this beast came to hand.

This trout measured just shy of 21 inches! My new personal best. At this moment I decided that I'm going to up my streamer fishing game this summer. After a few pics she was released to the depths. 

 Still shaking from the excitement my attention turned to the other, bigger trout. I took a few blind casts when one took a particularly good looking drift. I gave the fly a few quick twitches and spotted a big 'ol mouth open. I felt a brief bump, then nothing. I thought to my self, "damn, that was probably my chance." In the midst of that thought I noticed him swim forward and settle along a big boulder on the bottom. I took a few casts before landing one that seemed perfect. Again after a few twitches I saw a  big 'ol mouth open up. I waited for a second and set the hook. Wahooooo!!!!!!!!!! This guy put up a battle. I countered every one of his moves minimizing his ability to get any good runs going. After a number of spirited head shakes he came to hand!

This kype-jawed beast measured around 23 inches. My new personal best, caught within 10 minutes of my last personal best!

The reel seat and grip of this fly rod measures 10 3/4 inches! After a few quick pics and a moment of rejuvenation this brute swam a circle in front of me before returning to the depths. It was kind of like he was saying "well played, sir well played." At this point the frustration of having to pay a big vet bill had melted away and I was only looking forward to sharing the excitement of my success with the wife and pooch! I walked a few miles back to the car stopping intermittently to take a few casts. I finished the day with around 40 fish to hand with most measuring between 8-13 inches.