Posted on July 24 2019
With the temp this morning in the 50's, I had time for breakfast before heading out to watch the trico mating dance and spinner fall which occurs when the temp hits about 69 degrees. The trico hatches have been nothing to write home about but if you watch where the waxwings are feeding you'll probably find trout under them waiting for what's left of the spinners when the waxwings get done. This morning I found trout lined up along a knotweed covered bank. They fed on trico spinners for about half an hour.
The good news is that there were enough tricos to get the fish up. Following the hors d'oeuvres the fish were served olives as the entree. When the trico spinners were falling all of the fish were along one bank. Never saw a rise anywhere else. As soon as the spinner fall ended, rises started appearing all over the pool and I could no longer get a rise where 10 minutes earlier there had been a dozen fish feeding. The trout know where dinner is being served.
The olives came like they did last week, slow but steady and the fish were looking for them. If you saw a rise and cast to it, the fish usually came up to at least look at your fly. When an upstream breeze came up and added drag to the equation I ran off a string of six straight refusals. But the wind wasn't blowing all the time and not all the fish were fussy about what they ate.
Retired to camp about noon for lunch, fly tying and lawn mowing. A nap might also have been snuck in there somewhere. Before I knew it it was 6:00. Headed for the UE with the hope of finding an open pool. Turned out there were several to choose from. Found one with several fish rising along the bank and did an uncharacteristic thing for me. I stood in one spot and fished to them for over two hours. Usually when a fish knows I'm there I move on. Ended up sticking six of the fish and landing four including one that refused my flies four times.
It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable days I've had on the river all year, didn't catch a snaggle toothed monster brown (or for that matter a fish over 17 inches) but had rising fish for the entire time I was in the water and never saw a boat or another angler.
The good news is that there were enough tricos to get the fish up. Following the hors d'oeuvres the fish were served olives as the entree. When the trico spinners were falling all of the fish were along one bank. Never saw a rise anywhere else. As soon as the spinner fall ended, rises started appearing all over the pool and I could no longer get a rise where 10 minutes earlier there had been a dozen fish feeding. The trout know where dinner is being served.
The olives came like they did last week, slow but steady and the fish were looking for them. If you saw a rise and cast to it, the fish usually came up to at least look at your fly. When an upstream breeze came up and added drag to the equation I ran off a string of six straight refusals. But the wind wasn't blowing all the time and not all the fish were fussy about what they ate.
Retired to camp about noon for lunch, fly tying and lawn mowing. A nap might also have been snuck in there somewhere. Before I knew it it was 6:00. Headed for the UE with the hope of finding an open pool. Turned out there were several to choose from. Found one with several fish rising along the bank and did an uncharacteristic thing for me. I stood in one spot and fished to them for over two hours. Usually when a fish knows I'm there I move on. Ended up sticking six of the fish and landing four including one that refused my flies four times.
It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable days I've had on the river all year, didn't catch a snaggle toothed monster brown (or for that matter a fish over 17 inches) but had rising fish for the entire time I was in the water and never saw a boat or another angler.
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