I was lazy this morning. I slept in until 7:00. It felt good. I sat around on my butt for awhile drinking coffee, watching tv, and fiddling around on the internet. I wanted to go fishing awhile, but I didn't feel like driving and hiking back into the woods. But, no worries.
There is a good sized cow-pasture creek a couple miles from here. It's not pristine, it's not purty, but it's full of fish, including some really nice ones. I have caught several browns over 20" out of it over the years, including one 27" fish that is the biggest non-brood stocker or non-lake run trout I've ever caught. It also holds some much better than usual wild rainbows, which are getting rare as hen's teeth around here these days. One reason they are there is that they don't hit much, except during the right times; such as when the water is high and a little off-color. This morning, the water was high and a little off-color, so I thought I'd go see if I could hook something interesting.
My messed-up elbow still isn't up to much casting and stripping of big, weighted streamers, which is usually the best way to catch these bigger fish.
So, plan B, the next best thing: I tied up a small herd of big, heavy, nasty stonefly nymphs that looked like they would bite you. I put so much lead wire on these things that I would probably get arrested if I tried to smuggle one into California:
When I got to the creek, it was about 60* and overcast, with an occasional sprinkle of rain. Nice switch from the heat and humidity lately, and great conditions for fish to be actively feeding. I rigged up with 2x tippet, and started dredging those big bugs through deep runs and up under rocks and junk cars and such.
9"-10" bows and browns were coming to hand regularly, but that wasn't what I was after. I wanted something that would put some real bend in my rod, something to fight from the reel.
I also caught a bunch of these, which are another reason that this creek is full of fat, happy trout:
This nasty, deep run at the head of a big hole looks like a good place for a nice fish to be feeding:
How about a fat, 16" rainbow? (yes, I put the tape on this one.)
This thing put up a heck of a fight on my 10' 3 weight. It took me a good while to get him in after he hit the current, and it was all I could do to keep him from getting into cover and tangling me up. After these stream-bred rainbows get up to 12" or more, hooking one is like hooking into a streak of lightning. With those big, wide tails and streamlined bodies, they are unbelievable fast and also jump repeatedly. There is no give-up in them. Then, when you put one of them back into the water, it is completely gone in a nanosecond, so fast that it leaves you standing there, almost wondering if you really, actually just caught it.
To be continued....
There is a good sized cow-pasture creek a couple miles from here. It's not pristine, it's not purty, but it's full of fish, including some really nice ones. I have caught several browns over 20" out of it over the years, including one 27" fish that is the biggest non-brood stocker or non-lake run trout I've ever caught. It also holds some much better than usual wild rainbows, which are getting rare as hen's teeth around here these days. One reason they are there is that they don't hit much, except during the right times; such as when the water is high and a little off-color. This morning, the water was high and a little off-color, so I thought I'd go see if I could hook something interesting.
My messed-up elbow still isn't up to much casting and stripping of big, weighted streamers, which is usually the best way to catch these bigger fish.
So, plan B, the next best thing: I tied up a small herd of big, heavy, nasty stonefly nymphs that looked like they would bite you. I put so much lead wire on these things that I would probably get arrested if I tried to smuggle one into California:
When I got to the creek, it was about 60* and overcast, with an occasional sprinkle of rain. Nice switch from the heat and humidity lately, and great conditions for fish to be actively feeding. I rigged up with 2x tippet, and started dredging those big bugs through deep runs and up under rocks and junk cars and such.
9"-10" bows and browns were coming to hand regularly, but that wasn't what I was after. I wanted something that would put some real bend in my rod, something to fight from the reel.
I also caught a bunch of these, which are another reason that this creek is full of fat, happy trout:
This nasty, deep run at the head of a big hole looks like a good place for a nice fish to be feeding:
How about a fat, 16" rainbow? (yes, I put the tape on this one.)
This thing put up a heck of a fight on my 10' 3 weight. It took me a good while to get him in after he hit the current, and it was all I could do to keep him from getting into cover and tangling me up. After these stream-bred rainbows get up to 12" or more, hooking one is like hooking into a streak of lightning. With those big, wide tails and streamlined bodies, they are unbelievable fast and also jump repeatedly. There is no give-up in them. Then, when you put one of them back into the water, it is completely gone in a nanosecond, so fast that it leaves you standing there, almost wondering if you really, actually just caught it.
To be continued....
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