Sunday, April 17, 2016

Trip Report: Finally The Caddis

I've gotten out and done a fair amount of uneventful fishing lately trying to break in the new fly rod. Early last week I began seeing caddis showing up on a stream very near my house but the trout weren't payin' no mind. After a few nicer days at the end of the week I decided to get out today with the intention of finding a good caddis hatch and a little solitude (not easy on the catch 'n keep opener). I arrived on stream around 830am to find sunny skies, temps in the mid 60's, and nobody fishing ahead of me. I should clearify: no people fishing ahead of me.
I landed a few smaller trout on the pink squirrel of prey before spotting a few clouds of caddis and a couple rising trout.
 Fish rose for around 2 hours and eagerly ate my size 16 deer hair skittering caddis. The dark green one seemed to work best but I landed a fair amount on a gray one as well. 
After landing around two dozen trout on the dry caddis I returned to the pink squirrel of prey. Clouds built throughout the day but never really worked to my advantage. Luckily fish were a lot less spooky today. They were pretty aggressive in the afternoon in fact! 
This trout was the big fish of the day. I landed another around the same size but he flopped out of my hand while I struggled to get my camera out. Same story for the two rainbows that came to hand. They had beautiful colors too. By around 330 I was ready for some water and a snack. I contemplated heading to another spot to catch the evening caddis hatch but decided instead to head home and relax (tie flies).
I moved pretty fast today and covered around 2 miles of water. All fish landed came on the squirrel of prey and the skittering caddis dry. The new fly rod casts like a dream and the wood grip adds a ton of sensitivity. My only issue so far is that the action is almost too fast. I'm used to setting the hook with a long, slow pull but this rod requires a fast, sharp set. I missed a ton of fish today but landed well over two dozen. I'm looking forward to getting out again soon so stay tuned.

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