Good Times with Trout

Sometimes you get to that point where you just have to get away. With life being what it is, things were piling up on me and I needed to get out fly fishing for the first time since December 1. A couple of texts back and forth between me and my brother set the plan in motion and we were going on a two day excursion. By mid-week it looked like our plans might be spoiled by the first snow storm we've had in quite a while. Despite our better judgment we headed out in the early morning.

Our destination was a place I hadn't been since I was 5 or 6, but have heard about quite a bit lately. Friends of friends, blog posts, and other sources of rumors made it seem unlikely that we'd be able to decipher the secrets in only two days but we figured to make a good try of it. 

Once we arrived we found the water exactly how it was described...unremarkable. But we worked it anyways and found some success on some scud patterns. 

Success is good, no matter the size

After a bit we moved to another good looking spot and I hooked into a nice fish. The big boy fought me for a bout ten minutes, he came to the surface many times and was starting to tire. My brother was down and ready with the net when he took a last turn and came unbuttoned. I couldn't (and still can't) think of anything I had done wrong. Small hook and light tippet kept me from applying more pressure. I let him run when I needed to and made up the line whenever I could. Even his jumps didn't effect the connection. Sometimes the big ones really DO get away!

Fishing in the snow

Luckily it wasn't long after my failure that my brother hooked up on a nice bow. Knowing it was a good fish I got my line out quick and grabbed the net. Everything that could seemed to go wrong on this fish. Not once, but twice she hooked him up on something down deep. Then she managed to get his line caught up on a rock but I was quick with the net and got her in.

That's my large net I use for my
kick boat, the hoop is 20" wide just
for reference

The trip was an absolute success at this point, and anything else we could manage would just be extra. Well, we got a lot extra! Wasn't long after this that I caught a 18-incher, and we had several other mid-teens come in. 

The next morning the scuds were bringing up the skunk, so I switched over to a black woolly bugger and caught another nice 20-incher. My bro threw on a sweet little black and orange streamer of mine and started hooking into a few, including a nice 22-incher. Could life get any sweeter? 

Out of pure curiosity we hit a couple more spots before making the trek home, and boy did it pay off. Once we found some good holding water I hooked into the biggest fish I've caught to this point. A 26" brute of a bow that was one of the prettiest fish I've caught too! 

It looks warmer, but the 2nd day
was actually a lot colder.

Life is good, and I was glad to get away for a couple of days. Hope you can get out and enjoy the water.

- Kidder