Thursday, July 31, 2014

Change in Scenery



I had been hitting the same stream fairly regularly, but when the summer rainstorms started to blow out the little creek I was frequenting, I needed to branch out.  My next fishing day started with a hot cup of coffee from the thermos on the banks of a creek I hadn't fished as much this season.  There is a bit more flow here, so the rains had less effect, or so I thought.



Flows were manageable on this day and hungry trout were found along the edges, in eddies and around rocks in the clear water.  The majority of fish took dry flies (caddis, x-caddis and humpies) with a few strikes subsurface on midge patterns.  The higher flows in this creek made the moderately sized brown trout seem to fight with an extra effort as they used the river to their advantage.


Celebration beers were had.


Attempting a repeat performance, conditions were not quite as favorable and I was forced to make another change.  Rainstorms on this day had turned the creek an opaque, chocolaty brown.  The only option was to head stubbornly higher into the upper portions of the drainage.



The cloudy skies and rain did not bode well, but I was the only one in the parking lot, so that had to count for something, right.  It was one of those moments when you think, either I know something everyone else doesn't, or everyone else just knows better.  I think it was a bit of both.


Stream flow was most certainly high, but the water was clear, unlike downstream.  It seemed that  the thunderstorms hadn't had the same impact here as they had elsewhere.  And I got into the first cutty's of the year.


The first was a younger, smaller fish, as I was still figuring out the right fly, but  I was able to bring a few nicer cutthroats / cutbows to hand on a variety of dries.   They again put up some great fights in the fast water as their downstream brown trout neighbors had.




On this evening, I had a celebratory homemade pork, mole and bean burrito instead of a beer that was just about the tastiest stream snack I have ever had.  I may have just been hungry, but it was definitely better than a doughnut.



The summer season is in full swing.  Enjoy your days on the water, watch out for those thunderstorms and for chances to branch out.  You never know what you might find.  Maybe your first cutty's of the year.  I can't wait for my next trip to get out and chase some trout.







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