East Side Scott and I made a brief trip to the CDA on the 5th-admittedly a poor choice of timing on our part but we were desperate to get out after so much rain. It was crowded and busy beyond belief-far more so than I have ever seen it. We drove about 50 miles upstream and even there some of our favorite runs had multiple fishermen in them. Fishing was slow on Tuesday and despite hooking several fish I failed to land a thing. Scott did much better landing a beautiful 18'' cuttie and landing fish after fish in another fishy looking large pool. The best part of the day was finding one of the better campsites on the river empty and spending the night being serenaded by a nearby feeder creek. After some serious bushwhacking a nice fire and a cold ale were a nice way to end the day.
After a great night's sleep in the Casa with no mosquitoes a big breakfast got us going and we broke camp to find some fish. What a difference a day makes-I was on fire! From the second cast on I caught fish all day every place we fished. The highlight was a bushwhack into one of our favorite spots that we knew held big fish. The big fish were on the far side of the river though and the water was too high and fast to wade close to them. I caught a lot of fish close in but really wanted to drift a fly through a slot on the far side of the river. I kept trying gradually inching closer with my 10' 3wt and picked up a nice fish just short of the slot. A few more hero cast and I put a Stimulator right in the slot and was immediately rewarded with a huge take. The fish was big-probably close to 20'' and bolted downstream into the fast water stripping line off of the reel. It was the fish I had hoped for as I had lost 2 similar fish in exactly the same place 2 times before. This time was no different as I was in too deep and fast water to make it back to the bank where I might have had a chance to land it. Eventually the line went slack but it was a victory of sorts anyway as I made the cast that finally reached the fish.
We visited some other places and caught more fish and did more walking and bushwhacking then found a decent campsite downstream and cooked dinner. Although we were camped right at the stream we were both tired after 2 long days of fishing and didn't have the will to go out again. With a combined age of about 155 years we felt like we had done enough to earn a seat at the fire and some ales. We retired under clear skies expecting another nice day on Thursday. About 12:30 I was awakened by some animal running along the frame or driveshaft of my truck and banging on the underbody. I had forgotten to put my LED flasher beacon under the truck and was paying for my carelessness. I put out the light and had no further problems. But about 4:30 the rain started and it wasn't just a shower but a deluge of a thunderstorm with thunder right over the camp that rocked the truck and I saw 3 lightning strikes that looked like they were just yards away. The storm stalled overhead and pounded us for hours, we weren't able to get out of our rigs until 8:30. We had parked on dry ground but awoke in a huge mud puddle!
Fortunately I can cook in the Casa during the rain so I just made breakfast and waited it out. Once the storm was over we went down to the river and Scott caught about 6 fish in 10 minutes. I caught a couple and hooked a major fish a long way out that quickly became unbuttoned. Lots of hiking and bushwhacking coupled with the downpour had used up much of our energy and we decided that we had caught enough fish to call the trip successful. No pictures though, I never carry a camera any more. In 76 years of fishing and 71 years of fly fishing I have seen thousands of fish. I remember what they look like!
PS: The NFCDA is being loved to death. The fish aren't near as big as they used to be and there is not as many of them. With literally hundreds of anglers on the water every day it is amazing that it fishes as well as it does. Many don't have a clue and stay pretty much in sight of their SUV. The key is to get away from the road, beat the brush and do some hero wading-there you will find fish.
After a great night's sleep in the Casa with no mosquitoes a big breakfast got us going and we broke camp to find some fish. What a difference a day makes-I was on fire! From the second cast on I caught fish all day every place we fished. The highlight was a bushwhack into one of our favorite spots that we knew held big fish. The big fish were on the far side of the river though and the water was too high and fast to wade close to them. I caught a lot of fish close in but really wanted to drift a fly through a slot on the far side of the river. I kept trying gradually inching closer with my 10' 3wt and picked up a nice fish just short of the slot. A few more hero cast and I put a Stimulator right in the slot and was immediately rewarded with a huge take. The fish was big-probably close to 20'' and bolted downstream into the fast water stripping line off of the reel. It was the fish I had hoped for as I had lost 2 similar fish in exactly the same place 2 times before. This time was no different as I was in too deep and fast water to make it back to the bank where I might have had a chance to land it. Eventually the line went slack but it was a victory of sorts anyway as I made the cast that finally reached the fish.
We visited some other places and caught more fish and did more walking and bushwhacking then found a decent campsite downstream and cooked dinner. Although we were camped right at the stream we were both tired after 2 long days of fishing and didn't have the will to go out again. With a combined age of about 155 years we felt like we had done enough to earn a seat at the fire and some ales. We retired under clear skies expecting another nice day on Thursday. About 12:30 I was awakened by some animal running along the frame or driveshaft of my truck and banging on the underbody. I had forgotten to put my LED flasher beacon under the truck and was paying for my carelessness. I put out the light and had no further problems. But about 4:30 the rain started and it wasn't just a shower but a deluge of a thunderstorm with thunder right over the camp that rocked the truck and I saw 3 lightning strikes that looked like they were just yards away. The storm stalled overhead and pounded us for hours, we weren't able to get out of our rigs until 8:30. We had parked on dry ground but awoke in a huge mud puddle!
Fortunately I can cook in the Casa during the rain so I just made breakfast and waited it out. Once the storm was over we went down to the river and Scott caught about 6 fish in 10 minutes. I caught a couple and hooked a major fish a long way out that quickly became unbuttoned. Lots of hiking and bushwhacking coupled with the downpour had used up much of our energy and we decided that we had caught enough fish to call the trip successful. No pictures though, I never carry a camera any more. In 76 years of fishing and 71 years of fly fishing I have seen thousands of fish. I remember what they look like!
PS: The NFCDA is being loved to death. The fish aren't near as big as they used to be and there is not as many of them. With literally hundreds of anglers on the water every day it is amazing that it fishes as well as it does. Many don't have a clue and stay pretty much in sight of their SUV. The key is to get away from the road, beat the brush and do some hero wading-there you will find fish.
