I arose early again this morning to beat the heat while kicking around on a really popular local body of water. My shoes hit the stream around 730am and boy was it already hot 'n sticky! Before tying on the trusty zebra midge I skittered a quill bodied mayfly over an often overlooked little lie.
This handsome little man was easily the largest fish of the day. He didn't come on the first cast but within the first five! The reel seat and grip measure around 11 inches so I'd guess he was 15, maybe 16. After a great battle on the 7' 9" three weight and a brief photo session he was returned to the drink. After a few casts the midge rig replaced the mayfly and off I was to tempt a few trout from the depths.
A few smaller ones came to hand here and there. One of about 14 inches put up a spirited fight and leapt from my hand while I was snapping a pic. He landed safely in the drink and waved his tail goodbye as he flashed into the depths. After landing a dozen or so on the rusty colored zebra midge I tied on a black size 20 Matt's midge and picked a few decent fish off the surface.
This was the nicest one to take the midge. He actually took it as I twitched it underwater and across the current. Over the last year I've learned a lot about fishing dry flies in ways other than dead drifted and it's increased my catch rate dramatically. As the morning steamed forward the fishing slowed considerably. The sun shined bright and the stream was clear, except for when the heard of cows upstream dipped in to cool down. I noticed a very brief hatch of some type of mayfly but fish seemed much more keyed in on midges. When I got home I tied up a few dozen rusty colored Matt's midges in size 20, hopefully these'll be the ticket!
If you're interested in purchasing any of the flies used today or any fly rods check out my inventory at Whitewater Valley Flies
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