Solo Dry

I'm always surprised at how chilly it is before light, even during the summer, and was thinking maybe the long sleeve shirt wasn't quite enough when I missed my first strike on the black wooly bugger. I was pretty mad at myself for letting my mind wander, especially since that was a good sized fish for this stream. Okay, now that I was ready the hits seemed to be few and far between and I only closed the deal on one fish before I was out of stream and needed to turn around. 

Not the biggest fish, but I really like the pic

With the light came the realization that the water was lower and clearer than it had been in a couple of years! That meant sight fishing to spooky fish and a lot of fun. As the air around me began to warm the bugs began to really come out. First was the trico spinner fall that seamlessly moved into a PMD hatch. 

I threw on a longer leader with a Hare's Ear Parachute and enjoyed the first really good dry fly fishing of the year. As I moved upstream I startled a very young fawn out of it's bed. We stood about 15 feet apart, staring each other down. As I reached for my camera the young deer hopped off, and I didn't want to stress him too much, so I let him go without a picture. Lucky the fish were more than willing to come to hand for a picture. 

Only Cutt of the day

This brown thought he was a rainbow and jumped five times before coming to hand

As the rises began to slow I added a pheasant tail dropper and continued to pick up fish on both flies. The rig was a little unwieldy with the 9-10' leader, plus the dropper, on my 7'6" fiberglass rod. This little rod sure made the fish feel a lot bigger than they were though, and it made casting dries especially sweet.

Not the biggest fish, but these wild, dry fly eaters are fun to catch

I love throwing to specific fish that are rising

It sure is a nice set up!

With more fish to hand than I, or anyone else, really deserves I called it a day and made it home by early afternoon to spend some time with the family. Unfortunately, there was something in the air that made my eyes swell up so bad that I was pretty much miserable for the rest of the day and the next morning. Still had a great time and can't wait to get back out there, though I may take allergy pills before I go.

Hope you're as lucky,

Kidder

Hard to appreciate the beauty when you keep wondering if these are the culprits behind your allergies