Posted on July 19 2015
It was almost too easy, seven casts, five fish hooked and landed. I
had walked a long way up stream. The bugs were just starting, sulfurs
mostly but a noticeable number of stenos. Why not? I put on a steno
and it was like a kid at the state fair with cotton candy. They
couldn't resist. One was busy eating another fly when mine went by
and he turned and chased it downstream three feet and ate.
Visions of a twenty fish day filled my head, and then they changed the
question. In the time it took to hook and land the fifth fish, dry my
fly and cast again, they went from, "What's big and tastes good?", to
"What can we eat that doesn't have a hook in it?". I got seven
refusals in a row with that very same fly that got five straight eats.
Changing flies several times produced a combination of refusals and
ignores (for sure they were not at all interested in olives). The
thunder which had been rumbling for quite some time got louder (rain
coat in the car half a mile away) and I tucked my tail between my legs
and beat the rain to my car.
Fished post t-storm in the big river, which earlier in the day had
more boats than a regatta, and found fish feeding on iso nymphs. If
anyone knows how to make an iso nymph float AND be eaten by a big
river rainbow, please let me know.
The bugs are hatching, the fish are eating, the rest is up to you.
Wade carefully.
had walked a long way up stream. The bugs were just starting, sulfurs
mostly but a noticeable number of stenos. Why not? I put on a steno
and it was like a kid at the state fair with cotton candy. They
couldn't resist. One was busy eating another fly when mine went by
and he turned and chased it downstream three feet and ate.
Visions of a twenty fish day filled my head, and then they changed the
question. In the time it took to hook and land the fifth fish, dry my
fly and cast again, they went from, "What's big and tastes good?", to
"What can we eat that doesn't have a hook in it?". I got seven
refusals in a row with that very same fly that got five straight eats.
Changing flies several times produced a combination of refusals and
ignores (for sure they were not at all interested in olives). The
thunder which had been rumbling for quite some time got louder (rain
coat in the car half a mile away) and I tucked my tail between my legs
and beat the rain to my car.
Fished post t-storm in the big river, which earlier in the day had
more boats than a regatta, and found fish feeding on iso nymphs. If
anyone knows how to make an iso nymph float AND be eaten by a big
river rainbow, please let me know.
The bugs are hatching, the fish are eating, the rest is up to you.
Wade carefully.
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