Trip Report: Nice Morning in the Woods

Today I spent a nice morning in the woods. I headed to the Preston area first to fish a stream where I anticipated some hot midge action.

By 9:00 I was heaving my WVF 6 weight at stocker bows. Four or five came to hand in short order. This stream was clear but had a chalky greenish stain in areas deeper than 2 feet or so. Fish were stacked in these areas but didn't feed with aggression.

 A few browns came to hand as I pushed upstream but nothing over 10 or 12 inches. All fish ate a size 16 orange scud. I didn't see any midges in the air and spotted no risers. Around 11:00 I turned back to the car and headed to a stream on the way home in hopes of landing a few bigger fish.

 This is the spot I had in mind! The water ran crystal clear and fish rose to midges sporadically. I landed three on a size 18 griffiths gnat and a few on the pink squirrel of prey before going back to the orange scud.

This was the big fish of the day. He sat tight to the rock outcropping and took the scud as soon as it hit the water. After a short fight he was cpr'd. By around 2:00pm clouds came out and the fish seemed to shut down. I didn't temp the water but I'd guess water temps began to drop around that time. All in all it was a great way to spend my morning.