Cold in June

Before bright and early I packed up the car and headed out. 'Night Morning' is what one of my boys calls it, and I think that works pretty well. Today I was supposed to meet my Dad and Brother at a stream that has been pretty good to us the past few years. Couldn't have timed the arrival better, seeing as how we all drove into the parking area at the same exact time. We quickly grabbed our gear and realized just how cold it is before dawn, even in June.

The advantage to being cold when you hike is that you move a little faster in an attempt to warm up. Unfortunately the fish seemed to still be asleep when we arrived at our starting point. Our standard rig for this stream is a dry/dropper with an Indicator Chernobyl or a Chubby Chernobyl on top, a bead headed Nymph for weight and a Sow Bug for a trailer. But the rig barely brought in a couple of non-enthusiastic trout of the small variety. Talk started early about pulling out and trying a different river, or lake, or something. 
The morning continued being tough fishing until about 10:00 when we starting getting into them with a Black Bugger. Streamer fishing is one of my favorite methods, and having the fish slam the fly is exactly what I needed to keep my attention. 

All the fish seemed to have some serious guts on 'em

Soon after that though the streamer action seemed to die off and we were again left with very little action. Going home started to come up in the conversation. Then I set up a Mod. Hares Ear under an indicator with some additional weight about 12" above the fly. Fishing again picked up and we were soon into several fish right near the river bottom. Some trout with several Utah Chubs mixed in. This late action was highlighted by a nice thick brown with a crazy-cat eye, which was a good way to close out the day.

Chub eater. 

Crazy-Cat eye and a chunk missing from his snout. Looks to have had a run in with a treble hook at some point.

Always great to get out with my family to do some fishing, even if it wasn't everything we'd hoped. We kept after it and still found some success. Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

- Kidder