Did a quick morning session on the EW Rosachi section today. Temps were in the mid-50’s, light to moderate winds and definitely less crowding then last week. I drove straight to my favorite starting spot and there was one car there, but no anglers in sight.
A short hike later and I am in the water. The flows were also noticeably higher than the previous week and a look at the flow reports that evening showed they were at 125 cfs…perfect! Water temps were still pretty cool…but no specifics. I forgot my thermometer (again). There was no evidence of any hatch activity on the water at 9AM when I arrived. Throughout the morning, I kept vigilant watch for noses and hatches, but they remained elusive, at least to my observations.
I fished my favorite spots pretty hard and was able to hook into two nice browns on a #18 Copper John. I was also getting some hits, but could not set up quick enough. Guess that I am still rusty with the reaction times, but getting better versus the previous week.
I did test out a new strike indicator (for me at least), the THINGAMABOBBER. It is a permanently inflated balloon indicator. I found that it floated very well with two nymphs AND a ton of split and remained pretty sensitive to bottom action. I do not know if I feel that it is such an improvement over the yarn indicators that I love, but it certainly is more than twice the price.
By 10:30AM I needed to head out to go back to work, but I took a detour into the Cali section just above the bridge in the miracle mile section. I guess this is where all the angler traffic is now. It was ridiculous. There were TWO RV’s, a BUS (what is up with that?) and about 10 or so cars. Definitely some people here. I got out, grabbed the rod, and went scouting. I did find one bend that was unoccupied and I took a few drifts for good measure. Nothing here!
That concluded the day. Always bites when you only have limited time and you miss what is probably the sweet spot of the day, but the reality is that I get in plenty of time on the water each season, so no reason to get greedy. Until next time…