While the Gettin's Good

Since having such a successful day with Lane last week (read about that HERE) thoughts of going back have been weighing on my mind. The fish that got away are always a huge motivating factor, but also the impending "Buffalo Midge" hatch would be great to hit when it's in full swing. The rainbows should start moving up into the stream to spawn and then there's always the spring "Blue Wing Olive" hatch that shouldn't be too far off. Besides, the weather has been really nice lately and you might as well get out and enjoy it.

It's been awhile since Ross and I have fished together, which has to be a sign that life is getting way too busy. We headed out early and were actually the 2nd vehicle in the parking lot. The parking lot hole wasn't as productive as it had been the week before, but fish were hooked and missed while we tried to figure out what flies were going to be productive. Ross managed to catch his first fish on a fly that he tied himself! It's a really cool 'first' and I was glad to have been there for it. 

We worked our way upstream, trading off missing fish, losing flies, or actually landing one. The fish were really stacked up in the deeper pools so once we found them we tried out different patterns to try to really get onto what they'd like. Lots of midge larva and pupa were in the water, so we tried Zebra Midges in different colors matching the size as closely as we could. Ross started getting them on a white and copper, while I found some success with a copper and blue including a decent tiger trout!

Every time we thought about moving on we'd get another hook up and have to stay for a few more casts. A mix of rainbows and browns came to hand, but nothing too big until a the fish of the day took my point fly, a San Juan Worm. 

The next hole almost gave up another healthy bow, but he came unbuttoned pretty quickly. We moved up to deeper water, but we couldn't seem to find the fish. We kept working on our way up stream, trying different flies/depths/strategy when we found a pod of rising fish! Ross's back was giving him him a rough time, so he sat down to watch me drop a Bunny Midge right in front of a riser that ate it with no hesitation. Of course, he quickly came unbuttoned right after spooking every fish in the pool. 

The day was clearly over but I couldn't help but throw a streamer on and swing it during the walk back. Several hits and one more fish came to hand, and why not? Gotta get it while the gettin's good!

Hope you're as lucky,

Kidder