We drove east Thursday, arriving at the ranch early afternoon. We intended to take Elsa fishing with Amy's dad Friday on my favorite small water, but being that Amy and Elsa weren't feeling 100% Steve and I did the only thing a compassionate father can - we went without them.
We left the ranch just after lunch, and after the 40 minute drive rigged up and hiked up river. The temp was in the low 80's, the sun was glaring, and I was itching to throw a line.
I was hoping to catch the tail end of the golden stone hatch, and while there were plenty of golden shucks on the banks I didn't see any of the big bugs in the air. Of course, the trout were still keyed in on them, and for the better part of the afternoon I just fished a yellow stimulator with a pheasant tail dropper.
This river is wonderful pocket water, so I focus on casting just in front of or behind structure, and usually you get a take. I have a few preferred spots, one being a series of pools following two car sized boulders. On the lower pool I had a nice redside grab the dry and head to deep water.
Using light 6x tippet, I play the trout for a minute or so, not wanting to be too aggressive in reeling him in, when my 3 weight suddenly doubles over and line rapidly starts spooling out. Again, I try and ease the trout in, but when I get him up to the surface I am surprised to see my 12" redside being mauled by a bull trout easily 18" in length, maybe more. He's got him just behind the gills, and is just thrashing violently.
Now I am thinking to myself - how can I land both? The bull sees me and, trout still in his mouth, heads back to the deeper water behind the large boulder. Putting light pressure on the line, I again coax both up to the surface. Slowly, I work both to the shallow water and am preparing to try and tail the bull when, in about 6 to 8 inches of water just a few feet in front of me, he let's go...
I pull in the poor redside; he's not in too bad of shape, a little bruised, but I slowly revive him in the cool shallow water, and he finally swims off.
I reel in, sit down, and laugh. I've had big bows chase and nip at smaller trout on my line, but nothing like this.
The rest of the afternoon was blissful, continuing to throw dries to eager redsides. We finally packed it in around 5, walking back to the rig and driving back into town to meet Amy and Elsa for dinner.
scott
We left the ranch just after lunch, and after the 40 minute drive rigged up and hiked up river. The temp was in the low 80's, the sun was glaring, and I was itching to throw a line.
I was hoping to catch the tail end of the golden stone hatch, and while there were plenty of golden shucks on the banks I didn't see any of the big bugs in the air. Of course, the trout were still keyed in on them, and for the better part of the afternoon I just fished a yellow stimulator with a pheasant tail dropper.
This river is wonderful pocket water, so I focus on casting just in front of or behind structure, and usually you get a take. I have a few preferred spots, one being a series of pools following two car sized boulders. On the lower pool I had a nice redside grab the dry and head to deep water.
Using light 6x tippet, I play the trout for a minute or so, not wanting to be too aggressive in reeling him in, when my 3 weight suddenly doubles over and line rapidly starts spooling out. Again, I try and ease the trout in, but when I get him up to the surface I am surprised to see my 12" redside being mauled by a bull trout easily 18" in length, maybe more. He's got him just behind the gills, and is just thrashing violently.
Now I am thinking to myself - how can I land both? The bull sees me and, trout still in his mouth, heads back to the deeper water behind the large boulder. Putting light pressure on the line, I again coax both up to the surface. Slowly, I work both to the shallow water and am preparing to try and tail the bull when, in about 6 to 8 inches of water just a few feet in front of me, he let's go...
I pull in the poor redside; he's not in too bad of shape, a little bruised, but I slowly revive him in the cool shallow water, and he finally swims off.
I reel in, sit down, and laugh. I've had big bows chase and nip at smaller trout on my line, but nothing like this.
The rest of the afternoon was blissful, continuing to throw dries to eager redsides. We finally packed it in around 5, walking back to the rig and driving back into town to meet Amy and Elsa for dinner.
scott
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home