Jay
10-11-2009, 04:12 PM
Boy what a week!
On Tuesday, my girl and I headed up to a little river that has always been very tough for me. It is a wild trout only stream, barbless artificials are the only thing allowed. I tend to only fish it in the summer, which is why I always struggle.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/81735c7b.jpg
After about half a mile of swinging streamers and moving downstream proved ineffective, I switched to a small beadhead BWO nymph and proceeded to lose a 20+" brown and smaller rainbow. Moving farther downstream, I saw a few fish picking BWO emergers from the film. Switched over to a BWO dry and picked up a bow about 17", a 22" skinny bow, and a fat 20 inch brown in the next hour or so.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/b4ac9599.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/ea5d1f01.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/365da001.jpg
After that the hatch died off and so did the action. Missed a couple and lost one. Might have only been three fish for the day, but I was stoked. This little river has always beat me up and sent me home bloody.
We then drove to the trailhead for Wednesday's destination and crashed in my girls car. The next morning we got up and hiked the 5ish miles into our lake for the day.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/d6b22018.jpg
We eventually came over the hill to see this
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/cf62eeb7.jpg
Right away, I had a large brown follow my offering in. I was blown away. Very big fish for a hike in backcountry destination. I was fishing a large streamer and finally had one of these russian subs suck it in. I hooked it and started freaking out and yelling for my girl to come help me land it. I managed to keep it hooked for all of 4 seconds before it pulled loose. I felt like crying/vomiting/breaking stuff for the rest of the day, as I was unable to get another one of them to eat it, and I had lost both of the flies in that effective pattern.
Thursday I had to work, and that sucked, but I ran down to the fly shop and picked up $50 in streamers, as I was gonna take a second stab at those big brownies.
Friday morning my buddy Brandon and I piled into the car at 5am and headed to the trailhead.
As soon as we came over the hill, I found one fish cruising and it summarily ignored me when I presented a tasty streamer to it. Brandon didnt see that one, but as he was casting, he had a fish follow in his lure and not commit. It moved out of his casting range and into mine, so I plopped my fly down in front of him and he responded to my slow strip by moseying on over and leisurely sucking it in.
The second I hit him he freaked out and headed straight for a deep drop off littered with big old boulders and I knew I was screwed. Knowing I had 6lb flouro tippet, I put all the pressure that I dared on him and was able to keep him from breaking me off in the boulders. After a couple hair raising minutes of powerful bulldog runs, I got him in.
24", weight unknown.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/a303637e.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/a8e38471.jpg
This fish was significantly smaller than the fish I lost the trip before, which is scary, because I thought the first one was about 24", now I know just how big that one was, and it makes me sad, lol.
I lost one other good fish, not as big as the one I landed, and also caught a handful of 14" fish. Brandon was unable to get a big one, but he did stay pretty busy with the little ones.
We crashed in South Lake Tahoe that night and headed to our next destination Saturday morning.
I didnt catch a ton of fish, but I did set a new pb. A cute little brook trout of 21.5".
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/a02531f5.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/1068339b.jpg
On Tuesday, my girl and I headed up to a little river that has always been very tough for me. It is a wild trout only stream, barbless artificials are the only thing allowed. I tend to only fish it in the summer, which is why I always struggle.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/81735c7b.jpg
After about half a mile of swinging streamers and moving downstream proved ineffective, I switched to a small beadhead BWO nymph and proceeded to lose a 20+" brown and smaller rainbow. Moving farther downstream, I saw a few fish picking BWO emergers from the film. Switched over to a BWO dry and picked up a bow about 17", a 22" skinny bow, and a fat 20 inch brown in the next hour or so.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/b4ac9599.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/ea5d1f01.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/365da001.jpg
After that the hatch died off and so did the action. Missed a couple and lost one. Might have only been three fish for the day, but I was stoked. This little river has always beat me up and sent me home bloody.
We then drove to the trailhead for Wednesday's destination and crashed in my girls car. The next morning we got up and hiked the 5ish miles into our lake for the day.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/d6b22018.jpg
We eventually came over the hill to see this
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/cf62eeb7.jpg
Right away, I had a large brown follow my offering in. I was blown away. Very big fish for a hike in backcountry destination. I was fishing a large streamer and finally had one of these russian subs suck it in. I hooked it and started freaking out and yelling for my girl to come help me land it. I managed to keep it hooked for all of 4 seconds before it pulled loose. I felt like crying/vomiting/breaking stuff for the rest of the day, as I was unable to get another one of them to eat it, and I had lost both of the flies in that effective pattern.
Thursday I had to work, and that sucked, but I ran down to the fly shop and picked up $50 in streamers, as I was gonna take a second stab at those big brownies.
Friday morning my buddy Brandon and I piled into the car at 5am and headed to the trailhead.
As soon as we came over the hill, I found one fish cruising and it summarily ignored me when I presented a tasty streamer to it. Brandon didnt see that one, but as he was casting, he had a fish follow in his lure and not commit. It moved out of his casting range and into mine, so I plopped my fly down in front of him and he responded to my slow strip by moseying on over and leisurely sucking it in.
The second I hit him he freaked out and headed straight for a deep drop off littered with big old boulders and I knew I was screwed. Knowing I had 6lb flouro tippet, I put all the pressure that I dared on him and was able to keep him from breaking me off in the boulders. After a couple hair raising minutes of powerful bulldog runs, I got him in.
24", weight unknown.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/a303637e.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/a8e38471.jpg
This fish was significantly smaller than the fish I lost the trip before, which is scary, because I thought the first one was about 24", now I know just how big that one was, and it makes me sad, lol.
I lost one other good fish, not as big as the one I landed, and also caught a handful of 14" fish. Brandon was unable to get a big one, but he did stay pretty busy with the little ones.
We crashed in South Lake Tahoe that night and headed to our next destination Saturday morning.
I didnt catch a ton of fish, but I did set a new pb. A cute little brook trout of 21.5".
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/a02531f5.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h223/fourbizzle/1068339b.jpg