5/18-19 STREAM SIDE REPORT

I started the day about 7am at Evening Hole. As I walked down to the water I startled two does out for a morning drink. The river was loaded with nice size fish. A few seemed to be feeding on emergers. Action didnt start building up until later in the morning. There were less fisherman than I expected, but it was still pretty busy on the river. Everyone was respectful of space but every hole had someone in it.

There are hoppers on the banks now and Baetis hatching through out the day with light Sulphurs  in the mix. Although I had no luck with RS2s or BOW dries for some reason It might have been because there were so many naturals on the water when I tried it out. Also beware snakes are out in force. I saw a few dead ones on the road and one in the river. I didn't get close enough to ID it. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone!

After lots of trial and error and maybe the passage of time helped too, the fish started biting. I had lots of looks and passes on a San Juan variation, but finally hooked up. It was clear that I was getting close to but they just werent into it. I switched to high sticking the normal nymphs and dropped midges, but still no luck with typical go-to flies. I switched to a Caddis pupa I came up with after reading about the green rock worm pattern on here a while ago. The trout loved it. I hooked up on the first cast three times in a row. I still hadn't seen anyone else catch one around me so I gracefully moved on to take my new trick to the deeper holes on the Spillway.

Unfortunately I couldn't pick up any bites with the Greenie. Maybe I still wasn't getting it deep enough, I'm not sure. I was too distracted by several small rainbows taking something off of the film on top. I tied on a size 18 Elk Hair Caddis and floated into the pool where they were rising. I've never seen a fish stare at a fly for so long. It was amazing. Every one of them would slowly rise to it look at it and lower. I was starting to get a complex about my tying skills, but instead of tying something new on I decided to move to faster water where they would have to make a snap judgement. The strategy paid off. I caught several more on dries until the late afternoon.

More families and fisherman were coming up the trails, so I decided to eat an early dinner and fish later while everyone else was eating. I ended the day with the river to myself. I caught several nice sized rainbows but no browns in 14 hours.

The next morning I decided to sleep in a little longer since the previous morning was not particularly productive. I packed up camp and headed down and fished two more hours. I went back to evening hole again and thought I would try the green rock worm followed by a cream midge, but I wasn't even getting looks at it. After about a half hour the older gentleman next to me caught one and then another. I took a cue from watching him and happily switched to dry flies despite only seeing a few fish rising out of my reach. I caught two more nice rainbows on a size 18 Adams and broke one off trying to keep him out of a log jam. I decided to end on a high note and go grab breakfast for the long trip back.

MADNESS

I finally got the time this weekend to put up a video that I have been wanting to upload for over a month. In September my brother and dad made some time to getaway for the weekend to go fishing together. It's something I wish we could do more often and I'm always grateful when we can. Thank you to Ron and Catherine for your hospitality and to our wives for letting us have some unsupervised play time!

LMF Fishing Report 8-25

With the impending rain lurking in the forecast I decided to take my chances and head up to the Lower Mountain Fork for a day of fishing. Luck was on our side because the clouds (and probably the last weekend before school starting) really held back most of the crowds.

The wife slept in and took the kiddo to the pool in the morning while I started the day at Cold Hole and worked over to Evening Hole. My overwhelming excitement caused me to overlook the fact that the days are starting to get shorter. I woke up WAY too early. I did however catch the Hook and Hunt Show on the radio, and I can now tell you I wont lose any sleep if I miss it next time.

On my second cast into the pool and I got a hit on a BH Prince Nymph with a Red Hot Midge dropper. I was so surprised I set too hard and he was off. Now wide awake!

The morning was pitch black but I continued to fish.There was still 40 minutes until first light, so I honed my Jedi nymphing skills. I was more concerned with getting a hook in the eye than missing a strike, but I decided to forgo the sunglasses as not to be mistaken for Stevie Wonder Fly Fisher Extraordinaire.

Action was pretty steady all morning and I was relieved at how few people were on the water. I hooked a nice brown in a deep pool. He put up a good fight and I got him all the way to the bank and he broke off as I leaned over to net him. Later, I wasted some time trying to catch one of the 4 albinos cruising the first few pools to no avail. Around 10 am the fishing slowed down (or maybe it was just me) but the crowds were picking up. Several people around were having no luck at all and leaving as soon as they came. Most spooking everything in sight then moving to the next area. After a German guy and his buddy crossed right through the riffle and nearly stepped on the 20" fish I was casting to I decided to head back for some Pizza at Greatful Head. On the way back I ran into a guy with his boys that was landing a fat 18" rainbow on a crank bait. He was pretty excited and I was glad to see someone else having a good day on the water too.

After the pizza I was recharged and had a good idea of an area the wife and my son could relax and play nearby while I fished some more, so we headed back to the park. Many of the frustrated fisherman were packing up as we arrived. My buddy from earlier was back in his spot and hooked up on another decent rainbow. I could hear him tell his son he was going to break off in the current, so I offered to net it for him. He was happy we landed the fish and I was relieved he had filed down the barbs on that crank bait. It was good to see a dad spending time on the river with his boys teaching them to follow the rules and still doing better than those that chose not to.

I caught a few more small ones and had a great time with the family. I saw several fish actively feeding. One was sipping off the top like clockwork, but I could't see what it was taking out of the foam. There wasn't a hatch going on and he wasn't taking my offerings, so I gave up on him and headed home vowing to be better prepared with my arsenal next time!