woke this morning feeling odd. This all began on a cool wet evening last spring. I don’t remember much of the event as I was young. There are memories of a splash, a fall, and a slow sinking into the comfort and safety of the dark and cold. There was light but little. It would shine through with a twinkle for a moment and then darkness would wash over me again .
Read MoreFor most folks the image of fly fishing conjures up a wide river, a middle age man, and long, graceful casts. Fly fishing is often described as a mixture of art and science and is referred to as “the quiet sport.” Idyllic nature settings and trout that rise to eat a bug from the surface of the water are shown over and over again in outdoor television programming, block buster films starring Brad Pitt, You Tube videos starring some guy trying to be Brad Pitt, angling magazines, pharmaceutical commercials for erectile dysfunction, and even screen printed on to shirts and ties.
Read MoreWinter fly fishing is much more gear intensive than wading up a summer stream in your flip flops with a pocket full of elk hair caddis and parachute adams. This kind of fishing is not for the minimalist hipster with his Trucker hat and Tenkara rod. This is gear head weather. This is merino wool and poly-pro fleece base layers, alpaca socks and scarves, down puffy jackets, water proof and “breathable” heavy duty outer shells, wind stopping skull caps, and fifty dollar underwear weather. This is camp stove and coffee back at the car, tomato soup in a thermos, brown liquor in a flask weather.
Read MoreThe air was warm and the sun on our backs made for a comfortable fall day casting to deep pools and long runs of broken water on an October trout stream. It was the kind of day where a coat was too warm unless the wind blew, the bite in the breeze a harbinger of days to come.
Read MoreI knew a dog once. He wasn’t of superior breeding or even more than just a mutt, but he was a good dog, and went by the name of Prince. He lived next door and spent most of the day laying about in the shade.
Read MoreNow is the time of year to head up or head down. Mid-elevation streams have either gone the way of the spring and faded into their summer estivation or are over run with tubers, swimmers, and other fly fishermen. Ones best move is to find your inner child and go exploring. Put on the hiking boots, pull out the maps, and seek out backcountry waters. Or put on the flip flops and swimming trunks and pursue the smallmouth bass of the big low elevation rivers.
Read MoreIf you are headed to the river this time of year make it a 6 to 9 kind of day. Nymph fishing is very productive in the first hour or two with mayfly and caddis patterns both producing well. A Pheasant Tail Nymph in a size 16, with an 18 or 20 Hare’s Ear Soft Hackle as a dropper, are producing well.
Read MoreAnts make up a very large portion of the diet of a trout during the summer months along with other terrestrials such as beetles and inchworms. A random caddis may find its way into the maul of a big brown as well but by and large the bulk of the biomass available to summer trout is in the form of an ant. Trout seem to have a strong affinity for these little formic acid filled sour treats. Ive been told they like the acidic taste, but Im more inclined to believe its the availability and helplessness of the food form that lends to such a sustained sight picture in the mind of summer trout.
Read MoreMay came in with more rain, a sudden drop in temperature and a rise in wind speed. Early May was akin to late March with 30 degree nights, snow at high elevations, high winds, and mid day hatches. Our Sulphurs came off strong at the end of April and with the high water produced some great under water and top water action. They have now begun to fade into Cahills which will soon leave the river and hand it over to the Little Yellow Stoneflies known as Sallies. Rumors of Drakes and Cicadas are showing up on social media and in riverside conversations and should be here strong by the end of the month.
Read MoreNow that the Hendricksons have passed; their close cousins, the larger of the Sulphurs, have arrived. These are not the tiny dorthea Sulphurs that will arrive later in the spring but the larger invaria. These bugs are about a size 16-14 with watery dun colored wings and a dirty yellow body sporting hot peachy orange segments about the abdomen.
Read More
