Monday, January 30, 2017

More Tying Than Fishing!

Like the title says, I've been doing a lot more tying than fishing. I plan to get out fishing this weekend if the weather cooperates...we'll see.
Check out Whitewater Valley Flies to check out lots of new inventory!

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Trip Report: Cold and Lazy

I got out fishin' today but felt a little cold and lazy, maybe unmotivated. I hoped temps would be a little warmer but I arrived on stream with temps reading in the high single digits. After zipping through a few quick holes I landed on one with fish stacked and ready to eat.
This skinny guy took an orange scud trailed behind a tungsten beaded pink scud. I expected to find low, clear water but to my surprise visibility was less than a foot. There must have been some cows upstream muddying up the water.
I'm always amazed that fish can find such little flies in such heavily stained water. After landing around 6-7 out of this pool/run I checked my box for a streamer. Damn! I left them in the car. Rather than head back I moved on. 
While I spotted no other human tracks animal tracks abounded. I couldn't identify them all but fox, coyote, skunk, possum, raccoon, and duck prints were everywhere! I followed them back to the car after catching around 1 1/2 dozen trout. The biggest was only around 14 inches today. All fish came on scud patterns with  a pretty even split between orange and pink. If I could do it over I'd definitely have brought some streamers.
Typically when snow melts into to stream water temps decline and the fishes metabolism slows. I hope to get out again next weekend but with temps above freezing the fish may be even more tight lipped.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Trip Reports: New Years Weekend

I took off work Friday to fish with a buddy who drove down from the cities. We arrived on stream around 1030. Air temps hovered in the mid 20's and skies were partly cloudy. We both fished nymphs at first as no fish were rising.
After a lot of casting and one small brown to hand we switched spots and tied on an emerger/midge combo. We spotted a few rising fish and had at 'em!
Sean started picking 'em off in short order. We froze our butts off but it was well worth the effort. I headed to an area state park again on Saturday to fish but found out (upon arrival) that there was a special CWD hunt. With over 400 hunters in the park I decided to head home rather than run the gauntlet.
On Sunday my buddy Tim and I hit a local stream to celebrate the opening of the catch and release season. We arrived on stream around 10 with temps around 30 and sunny skies. With no evidence of surface activity we tied on nymph rigs and had at it.
We didn't land anything huge but Tim scooped up this 14 incher with his homemade net! Conditions were good but the fish were sluggish. Water temps in the early afternoon measured 42.
By the end of the day we landed around a dozen between the two of us. We spotted midges throughout the day but did not see a single fish rise to eat them. With temps forecast around 30 for today and rain/sleet/snow I wasn't sure if I'd make it out. I'm glad I did. I fished a stretch of the same stream but closer to the source today and had a banner day of winter trout fishing!
I fished a pink squirrel of prey with a pink scud dropper all morning. Skies were cloudy and snow fell off and on throughout my outing. The first section I fished yielded around a dozen trout including the above pictured brook trout. After slaying 'em out of that hole I hiked a ways to warm up. While fishing up stream I ran into a bunch more fish!
 By the end of the day over 30 fish came to hand with most measuring between 10-12 inches. Action was fast and furious which kept me fishing but my hands were frozen by the time I headed home.