Trip Report: Death March

Today I went on a death march through the woods in search of trout. My friend Jesse and I fished a nearby stream that endured a fish kill a couple years ago. We were curious to see how trout populations were recovering and what type of insect life we'd find. We arrived on stream around 9am with temps in the mid 70's, cloudless skies, and clear waters.

We planned to push deep into the woods so we very briefly fished through the pasture section. I worried that the stream may not have recovered too well after the first few sections of stream but was relieved to hook into two little brown trout which took the Quill Bodied Mayfly dry/emerger.

After catching these spunky little ones we pushed on.

This was our last glimpse back toward civilization. Jesse was rockin' the skunk until just upstream from this spot. He landed three or four around 13-14 inches.

 As the day went on Jesse's luck slowed and mine picked up. The size of the trout also improved!

This was my big fish of the day! He took a Pink Squirrel of Prey fished through a riffle to run transition. We found most of the fish holding in deeper, faster moving water. I stuck to the Pink Squirrel of Prey for most of the day. I spotted only one rising trout. No insect activity either.

We probably hiked around 4-5 miles total. A good amount of that was trudging through knee deep muck or thrashing through vegetation over our heads. I got home exhausted! I won't be able to get out fishing over the next week or so but that'll be ok...there is a lot of tying to be done.

Trip Report: Kayaking Fishing with Tim

Today my friend Tim and I kayak fished a local trout stream. We started off at around 9am and fished until around 6pm. Tim landed fish on a number of flies and I landed mine on the Pink Squirrel of Prey and Quill Bodied Mayfly dry/emerger.

We fished out of the Kayaks when we could but tried to get out and work the better pieces of water. Because we floated downstream I spent most of my time fishing down and across.

We didn't see many fish rising initially but hatch activity picked up as the day went on. 

As I floated downstream I noticed these clouds which look to me like a guy with a mullet! 

This decent rainbow was probably the biggest fish of the day. Tim took him on a nymph fished deep through some faster water. Fish seemed more oriented to faster, shaded water throughout the afternoon.

 We landed more brown trout than rainbows but the biggest fish we caught were bows.

 

This was my big fish of the day. He took a Pink Squirrel of Prey fished deep through faster water. I turned a number of decent fish today but focused much of the day on fishing the Mayfly Dry.

It was a great day to be out fishing. We must've landed at least 30 trout between the two of us with most between 10-12 inches. Can't wait to get out again!

Trip Report: Some Fishin'

I got out a few times fishin' over the last two weeks. I'm not getting out as much as I'd like because I've been inundated by fly orders. Not a bad thing!

This has been the hot fly catching both fishermen and fish. It's a Quill Bodied Mayfly Dry/Emerger. It fishes well on the dead drift and swung just below the surface down and across. Check them out over at Whitewater Valley Flies

Finding clear water hasn't been easy lately but I've found fishable water even right after heavy rains. I've been using the 6 weight in hope of tying into something big but it's been a slow summer for me. I plan to get out kayak fishing this weekend and hopefully we'll see some bigguns!

 If anybody is interested in parachute flies I also tie this quill bodied trout treat. I can make these happen in sizes 18 and 20.

Trip Report: Yak Fishin'

Today my country ass got out fishin' with my friend Sean from the cities. We saddled up the kayaks and hit the stream around 930am. We started both fishing a size 16 Quill Bodied Hairwing Mayfly Emerger swung down and across. I landed numerous small fish as well as a few bigger ones in the first run. Sean took a minute to adjust to fishing this style but began to bring them in with some frequency as we proceeded.

The water was crystal clear except for the deeper pools which carried just the right amount of sediment. Many fish caught on the Emerger came from the transitions from clear water to the perfectly stained green spots. After the sun came on strong around 2pm we switched to using nymphs through some of the deeper pools. The Pink Squirrel of Prey, prince nymph, and early stage caddis emerger fished really well.

Sean prodded the depths of this typical riffle-y run to no avail. We missed a ton of strikes today, probably because we're both a little out of practice right now:( I hope to change that over the next few weeks, stay tuned.