Trip Report: Fishin' With Mike and Beazer

This morning I got out fishing with my brother in law, Mike, and my dog, Beazer. Mike has fly fished with me before but this was Beazers first trip afield.

With temps in the low 80's and bright skies I was completely unsure what to expect. We arrived on stream around 930am and found lots of others out fishing. We spotted a few sporadic risers throughout the morning but no bugs hatched with enough consistency for us to try dry fly fishing. We rigged up with the pink butted pheasant tail and dredged the bottom of all likely water.

Mike struck first with this beautiful speckled brown. We switched off passing between the rod and the pooch on her leash. Beazer is a black lab/basset hound mix which leaves her low to the ground. She was ok with the water but it definitely took some coaxing.

I landed this beastly brown from the last pool we fished. After the release we decided to let Beazer off her leash to see how things went. She stayed within a reasonable distance and was way more water friendly after losing the leash.

The wife found a few ticks on her while giving her a bath. Overall it was neat to see her so adventurous and well behaved. She slept all afternoon and remains passed out next to me as I type. I however worked on the garden before heading back out to chase some trout.

 I used the same fly rig from this morning. I landed a few smaller ones and missed three nice trout before hooking into this guy.

I wish I'd have gotten a little better picture of this guy. He was thick! After a great fight he still had the power to flip out of my hands so I clumsily directed him back into the drink. After basking in the glory of this catch I moved on.

This guy came to hand a short time later. He was hiding in a nice deep run that I've always thought looked good, but never yielded me a nice fish until now. I'd guess he would measure around 16 inches. After a short period of rejuvenation he returned to the depths.

Overall it was a great day of fishing with some great company. I hope to get out again soon but I've got some gardening and rod building to do over the next few weeks.