Today the fishing was slow but steady. I arrived on stream by 10am and headed home by 230pm. My chosen river was running clear but gained a brownish stain as they day progressed. Snow fell until around 1230pm which may have impacted stream temps and slowed the bite. Air temps hovered in the high 20's but a slight, constant breeze made it a bit chilly. All takes were very subtle and most fish came from slow, deep water.
Most fish took the orange scud in the morning and a size 16 gray zebra midge later in the outing. I did land three on a size 22 quill midge emerger around 11am as fish fed furiously on emergers for about 20 minutes. After that I only spotted very sporatic risers.
I always like fish face pictures! This guy clearly fell victim to the zebra midge. After a buddy showed me some pics of a 22 inch brown trout he caught earlier in the week I decided to dedicate a little more energy toward fishing streamers. I dredged a few deep pools but the only streamer type fly I can tie is a bugger looking fly. After coming up short on the streamer I resolved to learn some different patterns. More on that in a minute!
I've also been trying to take more scenery pictures.
As you can see we had good cloud cover all day. Just after snapping this picture I noticed a fish rising up ahead. I re-rigged with a black size 20 Matt's midge and heaved it out there with my WVF 7' 9" three weight. I've been working on taking the time to add tippet when fishing dries to avoid spooking fish with short leader/tippet.
It worked! This skinny bastard sucked down the midge and put up a mediocre fight before coming to hand. Overall it was nice to get out but I think the temperature fluctuations we've experienced over the last few days left the fish a little confused. Upon returning home I went right to the vise and tied up a few streamers for tomorrow!
I still have some work to do but this feels like a good start. Tomorrow I am drifting a much bigger river with a friend who just got a 2 man fishing pontoon/raft so the new flies will get tested.
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