Discovery

This was a hectic week! Every night I had some sort of work, whether it be my main job or my second, and not a whole lot of time to relax. Saturday felt good to be with the family. We went "Up North" to catch a marching band competition and pick up some new fish for the aquarium. Sunday began with plans to go fishing but first I 'needed' to make an order for some new fly tying supplies. Nothing too crazy or different, just some stuff I've been needing. If you haven't checked out www.hookhack.com you definitely should, they have some great stuff and awesome customer service (No, I'm not affiliated with them). The only type of shopping I actually like took long enough for the whole family to wake up and decide to join me. We decided to try a small reservoir that we'd never fished before.

Pretty

Why haven't I fished here?

The kids had some fun with their BB guns while Deli took some pictures and I tossed some flies. What I found were some scrappy rainbows that ranged between 11 and 14 inches. They seemed to like my Fathead fly in golden olive and black. Even so I tried out a few different flies dropping off the back just to see what would happen, but they still seemed more interested in the streamer. 

Pretty lil' bows

Talk about a great decision! The only thing I'm wondering right now is why I haven't been up to this lake before. Not only was it a great looking lake with lots of willing fish (read: great for kids) its not even very far from my house. 

Old boy

After the Wife & Kids completed their trek around the shore I knew it would soon be time to go. Not wanting to leave without giving something else an effort I strung up a spinning outfit with a jig to try my hand. I don't have a lot of experience at this type of fishing, but the fish didn't know that and were more than willing to play. After a few more tugs we packed it up and headed for home, though I wasn't quite set for the week.

Chillin'

Once we were home and got the dogs put away I convinced Atley to head out with me to try a small (really small) stream. I've had a hunch about this stream for a long time now but can't ever seem to commit to trying it. It's not really on the way to any of my other usual spots and it's in that awkward size category where it could hold fish, but it also could not. Perfect for a late Sunday afternoon extension. 

It's amazing how much beauty is all around here

But are there fish??

Once on the stream it was apparent that we should have brought the waders! Atley was having fun jumping around on the rocks, trying to get in position to make a cast but I would have preferred focusing on the fishing. The first good looking hole seemed to be a dud until I had a little strike as I was pulling the fly up. It was enough to keep us going and at the next hole we found a few willing fish. Nice little cutties mixed with 'bows just to keep everything interesting. All they wanted was a MHE, though a few took the Indicator Chernobyl only to be missed.

Workin' the outside corner

Stealth mode

Lots of these

Looks good in my vest too

The bows all had parr marks

They all seemed pretty fat and healthy, even if they weren't all that big

Atley kicked butt on this stream, catching 8 fish and both the largest and the smallest fish were caught by him. It was great to see him getting interested in fishing again. On the way home he was talking about coming back to show his brother. I can't wait. It was the perfect end to a nice weekend with the family. Hope you can get out, be safe, and enjoy the outdoors.

- Kidder

Love it when this kid fishes with me