Another day, another early morning romp in the water. I decided to hit the gauging station as this will probably be one of the last times I hit this section for about a month. With the broken dam section in great shape, and closer to the house, I will now be able to bore everyone with endless posts about that section. At least it will be different.
Upon arrival, I note that it is finally warm enough AND light to no winds. Wet wading is definitely in the cards today. I toss on the boots and head out to the river. Another indication that it is warming up is that there are bugs everywhere and it is only 6:30am….yahoo! I see some smaller PMD’s, some stones, and another (as yet unidentified) bug that resembles a March Brown (don’t think any of those are still around).
I tie on an #18 Elk Hair Caddis and wade into position mid-river to fish “the pool”. I get a refusal on the first drift and that is all it took to spook the entire hole. I move up to the next hole and since I am hiding behind a rock and some fast water, I know that I am not seen. I was able to pull two smaller fish out the the faster water and then this hole was spooked. This is what happens when the water levels come down and there is more pressure on the fish, dries become harder, the fish become warier, and you just have to sneak around a bit more.
Now, by sneaking around, I mean that you have to hide, wade slowly, move slowly, and WEAR SOME EARTH TONE clothes. All you folks that think that the white (think beacon) t-shirt is cool, think again. Reds and bright colors should be off your list as well. There is a reason that most fishing clothing is Khaki or olive drab.
Next hole up, I still have on the Elk Hair Caddis, and I am still getting some looks and chases, but no serious grabs. I decide to tie on a #20 parachute Adams and head up to the next hole. The Adams proves to be popular and my fly is getting hit on every drift. Still no hooked fish. I keep marching up the river and it is not until I get to the 4th hole that I finally hook and land a 10″ Rainbow. The fish are getting cautious.
I get out of the water and walk the bank back down towards the car and I decide to take a second swing at the pool below the gauging station again. I almost literally crawl through the water so that I am not seen by any fish. I play out some line and toss the fly against the far wall and into the drag inducing current. First drift….BAM! FISH ON! And this one is looking prerry good. I land the fish as quickly as I can and take a guess that is 13″ inches of Rainbow. I toss the fish up to my rod so that I have a reference point for the size of the fish. This fish did his very best to jump and spook the entire pool, so I knew that we would be the only fish out of this hole with the time that I had left.
Back at the truck, I quickly measure and the fish is 12.5″ inches long according to the tape measure to the index nark on my rod grip. This is definately one of my biggest from this river this season. BTW, I am still telling everyone that it was 13″ inches so that is my story. Time to head down to work. Until next time…