Playing Hooky

I haven't written in a while. I know, but to be fair I also haven't been out too much either. The end of the summer was spent in my basement playing sheetrock games (there's a crazy story there, but now's not the time or place) and not out chasing fish. Hunting season came and went with only one close call, but I still suck with a bow and missed an elk at a ridiculously close range. Oh well. With all that behind me, I decided to skip out on working in my basement (flooring) and hit a local stream. The best news was Caden decided to join me! 

The stream in question is one that is pretty close to where we live and every time I fish there I wonder why I don't go more often. A beautiful stream, close to home, with some nice-sized fish in the mix. I guess I'm always looking for greener pastures. We arrived around mid-day and quickly hooked into a fish that almost as quickly freed himself from the hook, but it gave us the confidence to move upstream and make another go of it. We spotted some fish that were feeding at the bottom of a small riffle and in a spot where I usually find fish (I do fish here sometimes). It took a little doing, but eventually, the first fish fell for a black and copper Zebra Midge. 

Working our way upstream we came to another great pool and started to fish it. Caden was content playing with the camera while I changed flies and practiced casting. For some reason, another fisherman thought it would be okay to drop in right above us and start fishing. There isn't much stream to fish in this stretch and he parked right next to us, pretended that our day didn't matter, and started fishing above us. I was tempted to go let him know that he'd just pulled a jerk move, but instead, I caught a couple more fish and we walked back to our truck. 

We drove to another spot and found some very spooky fish, but I did manage to trick one more before Caden was too cold and we walked back to the truck. 

After letting Caden get into the truck I fished for a few more minutes just downstream where I could keep an eye on my boy. A couple more fish were anxious to eat a zebra midge and I finished out with the best fish of the day. 

I'm not sure why I haven't been getting out too much lately, but I plan to change that! I'll let you know if I do. 

Hope you're as lucky,

Kidder