I had a very relaxing day of fishing.
After taking care of some stuff in town I headed up and over the pass. It was a beautiful drive. There were trucks at most pullouts, I assumed they toted fisher people, maybe slightly surprising for a Monday? I guess the word is out on the Yak.
I decided not to tote two rods myself. I strung up a 6 with a sinktip and black and brown marabou number with some gold flash, stashed a reel with a floating line, and walked in. It didn’t take long before I had some action, a fish whacked it several times before I hooked it, felt 5 seconds of wiggle and it was gone. This gave me confidence that my fly and presentation would work, so I continued down through the fishiest stuff, where the guides always stop, and toward the end of the stretch, I hooked and landed a smallish Northern pikeminnow. Skunks off. Continue. Fly is slammed. Heavy weight. Surface thrash. This must be a trout. No. Another NPM, and this one is sorta big. And then another. Hmm. I was expecting cutts up here, not NPM.
I continued wading down until some time maybe around 2 I found myself in a rather nondescript riffle surrounded by risers. No super obvious hatch, but a mix of small bugs about. It took me too long but I eventually went to shore and switched to the floating line. I tied on a tan Caddis about size 16 and a tiny BWO comparadun. Luckily I was able to jam 4x through it as that was the thinnest mono tippet I have. I was immediately into fish—small cuttts, mainly. Both flies worked. I fished up to the top, landing 4 or 5 and losing a few, and the rise was over.
I climbed up and out and went down to the next hole, starting at the bottom, seeing no risers. Then I saw a splashy rise way up at the top. Continued on, hooked and landed several RBs. Nothing up at the very top.
At this point the day was getting on. What to do? I decided to hoof it up to the fishiest stretch and fish the dry there. It was a decent walk up there. Saw some turkeys on the way.
I got down in there and nothing was happening and I was having trouble seeing the flies in the low light. Rather than scratch another fish or two out and get home late I decided to bag it and head home so I could see the kids before bed.
No biggies, but a gorgeous, gorgeous day and I got some fish on dries. I savored the Canyon Time as Randy puts it. We live in a beautiful state.
After taking care of some stuff in town I headed up and over the pass. It was a beautiful drive. There were trucks at most pullouts, I assumed they toted fisher people, maybe slightly surprising for a Monday? I guess the word is out on the Yak.
I decided not to tote two rods myself. I strung up a 6 with a sinktip and black and brown marabou number with some gold flash, stashed a reel with a floating line, and walked in. It didn’t take long before I had some action, a fish whacked it several times before I hooked it, felt 5 seconds of wiggle and it was gone. This gave me confidence that my fly and presentation would work, so I continued down through the fishiest stuff, where the guides always stop, and toward the end of the stretch, I hooked and landed a smallish Northern pikeminnow. Skunks off. Continue. Fly is slammed. Heavy weight. Surface thrash. This must be a trout. No. Another NPM, and this one is sorta big. And then another. Hmm. I was expecting cutts up here, not NPM.
I continued wading down until some time maybe around 2 I found myself in a rather nondescript riffle surrounded by risers. No super obvious hatch, but a mix of small bugs about. It took me too long but I eventually went to shore and switched to the floating line. I tied on a tan Caddis about size 16 and a tiny BWO comparadun. Luckily I was able to jam 4x through it as that was the thinnest mono tippet I have. I was immediately into fish—small cuttts, mainly. Both flies worked. I fished up to the top, landing 4 or 5 and losing a few, and the rise was over.
I climbed up and out and went down to the next hole, starting at the bottom, seeing no risers. Then I saw a splashy rise way up at the top. Continued on, hooked and landed several RBs. Nothing up at the very top.
At this point the day was getting on. What to do? I decided to hoof it up to the fishiest stretch and fish the dry there. It was a decent walk up there. Saw some turkeys on the way.
I got down in there and nothing was happening and I was having trouble seeing the flies in the low light. Rather than scratch another fish or two out and get home late I decided to bag it and head home so I could see the kids before bed.
No biggies, but a gorgeous, gorgeous day and I got some fish on dries. I savored the Canyon Time as Randy puts it. We live in a beautiful state.
