Weekend Trip Report

All of last week the high temps were in the mid forties, so after school Friday I grabbed my brother and we headed to a local pond to see if the bass were moving a little with the warmer water.

When we got down to the pond we were a little disappointed:

Obviously no bass moving yet but this guy was trying (kind of):

The good news; Saturday the high was supposed to be in the mid fifties. After seeing the shape of the still water in the foothills I knew the wild water a few thousand feet higher wasn't an option. I headed North to harrass stockers in some Delayed Harvest water.

It's amazing the difference even two thousand feet can, the high was having a hard time reaching forty with thirty to forty mile an hour gusts.
Those kind of numbers result in chilly conditions:

I still managed to land eight on a #18 C-Bo midge dropper off a #10 black stone.

Sunday I met a friend and we hit a different section of the same river.

Less wind and warmer temps made for a much more comfortable day.Like most sunny mid February days the little black stones were crawling out.

And like most sunny warm mid February days I saw no sign of trout keying on adults, nymphs or emergers. Yes I said emergers. I can say that some little black stones were emerging as yellow sallys do. I did see one trout in a back swirl taking some adults that had been caught in the current. That was the only trout I saw rising all day and didn't see anything flashing on the emergers. Even though I had tied a #18 adult to try in this situation, the fish was smallish and I was lazy so I stuck with my rig. Still managed a bakers dozen.

At one point I had a family with two small children stop their hike to watch.I hooked a small rainbow and let the little boy reel him in. Possibly the highlight of the day. Actually a toss up between that and the sunset on my way down the mountain.

What A Weekend

Well this weekend temps got up to the 60's here and me and dad were bound to hit the
water. Saturday we woke up bright and early with plans to hit a wild stream that holds some good sized fish. We got there around 8am and it was
still freezing outside. I had to thaw out my waders to even get them on. We finally got rigged up and started our hike in. When we got to the water
I had a fish chase in the first hole hopefully a sign of a good day to come. Well this wasn't the case. Just when it started to warm up and little
black stones were scurrying along the rocks, dad and the camera took a plunge. He wanted to keep going but he was wet and I didn't want him to get hypothermic
on the hike out. So we left then fishless and dad wet. We got home and got the camera into a bag of rice but it wasn't enough and Sunday I had to
use my phone.

Thawing my waders

Saturday I knew I was going but dad wasn't up for going. So after church I talked my little brother to give up on the video games and come fish with me.
So we headed north up the mountain to a Delayed Harvest stream. I pretty much spent the day guiding my little brother and occasionally
catching a fish. My brother doesn't fly fish so I was doing all the casting for him. We spent the whole 3 hours we fished in the same 2 holes. We were fishing
a black wooly bugger with a #18 black stone dropping off. I saw my indicater twitch a little and set the hook, but the fish didn't move. I handed the rod to
my brother and he succeeded in landing a 23 inch bow with 7x. He did it all on his own and now he is hooked, we plan on practicing casting in the front
yard tomorow. I hooked a brown out of the same hole that was larger than his bow and had him straighten out my hook. In the same hole we caught 9
fish and got into 2 over 20 inches and 2 over 16. A good day if you ask me.

Went in a Direction I never thought I Go

That direction was towards my golden retriever as she was casually laying on the couch.
I didn't have scissors in my hand but a brush with my eyes set on some prime tying material. She didn't mind all the brushing
and I didn't mind how the couple flies I tied looked. The fur worked perfectly for dubbing and gives the flies a scragglier look which I love.
Heres some shots.

WHAT YA THINK?

No Snow, Just Rain

Decided to hit the same place yesterday. There was a little less ice and a slow rain. The fish were just as cooperative. I was sight fishing and had a 20+++" fish nose down to eat my fly and I ripped it out of his mouth! AHHH!
Enjoy the pics:

Headed North

I headed North today to hit some different Delayed Harvest water. You gotta love fishing during the week with wind chills in the teens (not another soul on the water).
The new fly continued to perform, I landed around fifteen in three hours and had to leave because I couldn't feel my fingers any more.

There was some open water:

The fish cooperated:

I can't I'm only 17!:

Decisions!Decisions! I gotta decide where to go tomorrow. Love these 5 day weekends!

No Skunk, One Buck, Two Troots

The wind wasn't quite as bad today as yesterday, which made it much more comfortable. Quite a few people on the water today but not as many as I expected. I was trying a new pattern I tied with a midge dropper for insurance. I was fishless going into the last run of the day where I LDRed three and luckily landed two. My Dad was skunked again. He said he talked to one guy who said he had caught two (fishing all day).

color of great expectations

I almost forgot about the highlight of the day. On the drive out my Dad is staring at the water instead of the road (not unusual, but he keeps slowing down and then slams on the brakes and starts yelling. "GRAB THE CAMERA", "BIG DEER", "DOWN THERE", "THE BEACH", "SWIMMING". Well I've got no idea what all the excitement's about, but I jump out shooting random pictures and the I see the beast climbing out of the water. "MONSTER BUCK". It's the biggest white tail I've ever seen, A 12 pointer with this huge rack and spread. I only got one blurry picture before he was in the woods, so you'll have to take my word for it. When I was telling someone about never seeing a deer that big before he jokingly said "yeah, especially in that neck of the woods where deer season starts on the first cool night in August!"