Trip Report: Good Fishin', Good Company

Lately most of my free time has been spent fishing instead of blogging. I got out a few times over the past week before heading out today with a new friend, Chris (aka the Fading Angler) in the morning and with my Dad this afternoon! It's always a pleasure to share some of my favorite waters with family and friends.

Last Sunday I got out with a friend to chase big trout. We were somewhat disappointed by the day's catch but landed a good number of fish including this 15+ inch brown trout. I can't remember what fly he took but I'd guess it was the Pink Squirrel of Prey.

 These two nicer trout came to net on Friday evening. I fished for an hour or so after work and landed a few shy of a dozen. Again, I hoped to hook into a few beastly trout but nope. I always tend to get big trout fever this time of year! This morning I met up with Chris from The Fading Angler to chase trout on a private stretch of stream that I'd gotten permission to fish last night.

Chris said that he'd be happy to play photographer for me and his stills behind the camera did not disappoint. This beastly lady brown took the San Juan Worm and put up a great fight. Chris ran the net like a pro before showing me what's up with his first driftless rainbow trout.

Between the two of us we must've landed well over a dozen trout. Three rainbows came to hand and lots of browns. I noticed that while most of the fish came on the SJW most were barely hooked as if they were only giving the fly a taste! After parting ways with Chris I headed home to meet up with my Dad. We formulated a plan to fish a scenic stretch of stream later in the afternoon.

We both started with the SJ worm. I caught a decent brownie on my first cast and things were looking up! After catching a half dozen smaller fish I approached a deeper run that ran along an undercut bank. I landed my fly within inches of the shoreline and watched the indicator dip below the surface. After setting the hook my line darted deep beneath the undercut. After a little drama I steered him out of the cut and into my net.

After a few quick pics he was set free. We continued upstream but caught fewer and fewer fish as the afternoon turned to evening.

I hope to go fishing tomorrow for a little while but I have a lot of flies to tie and a few rods to finish so we'll see...