In middle school, I had a teacher who would offer pop quizzes and other challenges that she called “an A or an F.” Participation was entirely optional, but you were guaranteed one of the two outcomes that gave the event its name. I like to mix in a few “A or F” trips each year. Most often, these take the form of trying to unearth a local “hidden gem.” More often than not, these places are hiding down some combination of unpaved roads, unmarked trails, and lesser known public lands. A few, however, are hiding in plain sight.
“Were they bass or cutthroat?” I asked the teenage angler who had just finished telling me about the “nice ones” he and his friend caught the one time they wrestled a jon boat down the short trail to the launch area.
“Nope, trout.”
I picked up a 10-11” cutthroat near a log on olive willy on a type III line early, but it was not fast fishing right away. Based on some observations when I had watched the pond for a few minutes on the way to an appointment last week, I thought a small soft hackle on a floating line might be effective early in the afternoon. That turned out to be the case. Many 7-9” cutts were caught by casting to rise rings or slowly kicking from one area to another. These and the few larger cutts I encountered from time to time all fought very well for their size with an abundance of writhing, twisting headshakes. One cast to a rise produced a surprise rainbow that jumped three times at the end of each of its long runs. It was silver bright and barely spotted and probably the largest fish of the day, though I did LDR a cutt that would have given it a run for its money.
“Were they bass or cutthroat?” I asked the teenage angler who had just finished telling me about the “nice ones” he and his friend caught the one time they wrestled a jon boat down the short trail to the launch area.
“Nope, trout.”
I picked up a 10-11” cutthroat near a log on olive willy on a type III line early, but it was not fast fishing right away. Based on some observations when I had watched the pond for a few minutes on the way to an appointment last week, I thought a small soft hackle on a floating line might be effective early in the afternoon. That turned out to be the case. Many 7-9” cutts were caught by casting to rise rings or slowly kicking from one area to another. These and the few larger cutts I encountered from time to time all fought very well for their size with an abundance of writhing, twisting headshakes. One cast to a rise produced a surprise rainbow that jumped three times at the end of each of its long runs. It was silver bright and barely spotted and probably the largest fish of the day, though I did LDR a cutt that would have given it a run for its money.
