Trip Report: A Little Fishing and a Big Fish

This was the plan for today. Bigger flies for bigger trout. John and I both eagerly awaited the weekend. We discussed a few options and settled on walking around and swingin', twitchin', strippin', and dead driftin' bigger flies on a few stretches of much beloved waters. I tied up a half dozen of the flies pictured above and carried a small container of midges, scud, and some small midge emergers just in case. A few heavier tungsten beaded nymphs made the trip as well.

 We both landed a few fish by the time this stout brown trout chased down my fly. I fished a 9' five weight that I've been diggin' lately. The rod typically performs really well but I'm using heavily saturated line and found casting to be difficult at times. These were tight quarters so we fished close together, often switching per fish.

John used a bunny leech lookin' thing with a deer hair collar (I think). Once we started tying into 'em faster John remarked that fish struck much more aggressively when the fly was swung and twitched against the current. We both thoroughly enjoyed fishing this stretch of water and toyed with the idea of continuing on. We decided instead to check out another spot that has been haunting my waking moments for the past year. I had a good feeling we could find a biggun. We hiked in a good distance before starting. After tossing larger flies for around a half hour I decided to rig up a pink squirrel of prey. A few 12-13 inchers came to hand before I hooked into a log.

I set the hook, she let of a great flash, and the fight was on! John came over the net the beast with a tiny little net. To his credit John wielded the net with extreme precision, likely cutting the fight by a little bit. After a few quick pics she was sent back to the depths.

After landing a few more little ones we headed to town to have lunch with John's wife. She put together an awesome little picnic lunch. They headed on a hike after lunch and I headed to a nearby stream to try my luck again on the big fly. I landed many between 8-12 inches and rolled a few slightly larger. I arrived home to find my pictures from last night still on my camera... So here they are!

Solid brookie on a size 18 pheasant tail emerger trailed behind a size 18 tung beaded zebra midge. Fish were not overly aggressive but I did manage to lose two nicer ones to long distance release.

This guy took the big fly! Only a few took the streamer.