[woolly bugger]

#32

62 degrees - sunny

I checked the river gauge in the morning but when I got to the river, I was surprised to see the water dropping.



well damn

I was planning to stream test my swap fly, a little black stonefly and there were a number of them flying about along with a few caddis.


l b stonefly -- upper left corner

I spotted a few sporadic risers and went after them. I managed to get some looks and hooked one in short order while the water was still falling.



Once it reached its low flow the river became a desert with no visible activity. So, I took a lunch break.





Bloodroot on the trail



I moved on up to Sally's pool and caught a couple more on the surface with the same LBS. Now that the fly has been stream tested and approved, I'll go into full production mode for the swap.



Caddis started coming off by the thousands around 6 o'clock and the hatch continued for at least an hour before it shut down by 7:30.

[woolly bugger]

#33

60 cloudy then rain, gas $3.99

[redacted], I headed up for a few hours [redacted]. There were a number of caddis out and I saw several fish take them off the surface.

This is always [redacted] river and it was a while before I connected. I struggled with the iPhone camera with wet hands.

#1

#2

#3


[redacted]

[woolly bugger]

#34

65 - 72 mostly sunny with a few clouds

When the conditions are favorable you have to take advantage, so I went back [redacted]



I hiked in and studied the water, looking for bug and risers, there were only a few caddis around and not one fish rose while I drank a beer.





don't know what this is -- looks like spewed eggs Any guesses?



here you can see multiple globs of it.



With no hope of catching a fish rising, I switched to nymphing and hooked into a tank of a fish that took off and ran down the fast deep run while I had to get across the river to run down and keep the fish from getting down further into the next run that would spell disaster. It wasn't easy to check the fish while crossing the channel with the CFO's simple drag ineffectiveness. The fish went crazy and did the alligator death roll and wrapped itself up in the leader as I brought it into net.



After rebuilding my destroyed leader, I managed to hook two more that were in the same class, but they threw the barbless hook.

As I was working the last run, I say a good fish take a caddis off the surface just once, challenging me to switch to dries.









I moved around looking for some surface activity, I found none and a spot that I would have nymphed was occupied with a worm dunker.

[woolly bugger]

#35

72 cloudy to partly sunny

Another crappy report!



The fish I lost yesterday haunted me and I had to go back. The [redacted]




I went [redacted]. Covering the near seam didn’t produce, but the first cast inton the far side resulted in a hook up, as the line came tight the big brown leapt out of the water in a head shaking tumble of energy and the hook came free of its purchase. Damn!

I worked that spot fruitlessly for another twenty minutes.

Moving [redacted] far.

Once again the line came tight and zipped across the current as an energetic trout tried to evade the net. This trout fought way outside its weight class.




I was dredging the bottom and got hung up on branches and weeds from time to time so I expected the indicator to stop. The next time it did I set the hook and nothing gave. Then the train pulled out of the station and the line again sliced through the water. This one moved like a heavyweight and not a rocket ship as the previous fish had.







Standing thigh deep in a strong current on a ledge made the netting and subsequent photo taking a risky maneuver and the results are subpar.

I moved around a bit and took a beer break just to soak in the day.



More fish came to hand or net as the cast may be. I couldn't manage to get and decently framed photos of the fish as I released them.

I'm using a Brodin Tailwater net which has an opening of 20 inches.





There were plenty of caddis around, but the fish weren't taking them on the surface. I only saw on rise and that startled me as I was watching my drift.



[redacted]









I fished on till the sun was setting and I quit when I broke off on a snag.

[woolly bugger]

#36

Gas $3.95 (15 cent rewards discount) 68 and sunny, not a cloud in the sky.

I had to go back, the tug of the big browns and the scream of the CFO, I was setting the hook in my dreams.

The river had dropped another 20 cfs and I thought that might improve the fishing in a couple of spots.

There are still plenty of trout lilies in bloom but they won't be around too much longer.



I rigged the rod streamside and went directly to the spot I had been dreaming about, no warmup, just hit it. Hooked up on the second cast. Hot fish ran to the end of the run, and almost into the next one, but it turned, and I brought it back up only to have it make another blistering run to the bottom of the run before I could bring it to the net. I had the TG with me but still failed on the photos.




On the next cast I hooked another 20 incher, but damn if it didn't through the hook.

The trillium are almost out.



Fish food...








I landed a couple of nice browns in the 16 - 18 inch range and hooked another 20 incher (best guess) that ran down steam and then jumped, clearing the water by a foot and spitting the hook.

I moved on up river and hit a few more spots, hooked and lost a couple of good fish and then,  I hooked into leroy, who took off 70 feet across the braided currents and lept completly out out of the water, the sunlight catching the spray displaying a rainbow of color and then in horror and utter disbelief and it thrashed its head the hook popped out. (I may have to reconsider using barbless hooks) Unbelievable!

The caddis were thick swarming above the riffles, but I saw not one fish rise.

I moved again and hit another spot where I was planning to fish until dark. I hooked a fish and ran it down in the fast water and then was getting ready to net it when I heard a snap, oh crap. The tip of the rod was dangling on the line to the indicator, the fish was still on and I netted it.



I've had this Sage SP 590-3 for decades, I "won" it at a Blue Ridge TU banquet bucket raffle and have fished it hundreds, if not a thousand days. I felt sick. When I got home, I checked the sage web site, formally sageflyfish.com now under farbank.com and saw the following.

We’re sorry. We are not accepting product repairs at this time.


WTF? Took a phone call to get things rolling...

[woolly bugger]

#37

Gas $4.09  n!n 
60 partly cloudy

Got out of the house a bit later than I had intended but with DST I knew I'd have enough time to catch some fish.  I ran into road closures and detours for the Northern Beltway construction that set me back further.

Five vehicles at the trailhead, and one had a trout sticker, so there would be a chance that I would be fishing behind someone, and it sure felt that way for the first twenty minutes.

Tons of wildflowers blooming and more on the way not the mention ramps!!!!



The stream was boisterous from the recent rains but running clear. A few small mayflies were spotted, but unidentified, a #18 quill something or other...

I met 8 or 9 ladies hiking out on my way in, but no sign of any fishermen.




Some trillium on the trail.



Most of the punes took the dropper, but a few smashed the dry.





A few were better fish, and some were released at a distance...



It was cool when the clouds obscured the sun and wind picked up and roared down the gorge pulling line leader and fly off the water at times. War birds flew up the gorge at tree top level shattering the tranquility of the day.











Somebody isn't having a good day.

[woolly bugger]

#38

Gas $3.89 44-54 cloudy to party sunny

While the SP is under repair, I picked up a Recon 5 wt.

Since the local is still running high I had to gallivant across the state to catch the whitey run.
I was a bit surprised that I had the river to myself, but it was a bit chilly and maybe everybody was waiting for the promise of a warm Wednesday.

I grabbed a handful of clousers, 2 chartreuse and white, 3 black and white and 1 tan and white.

The fish were there and aggressive, but I also caught trees and underwater structure, had a knot fail and ended up losing a bunch of flies.



Caught a bunch of these


one of these


the last of the trout lilies


and several like this



may apples have taken over the forest floor



cheers...



the Recon 5wt  has been baptized.

[woolly bugger]

#39

It was supposed to be in the low 70s, but when I left the house, it was still in the 40s and cloudy with drizzle. I had planned to fish a little creek but was hoping for better weather, I checked the river gauge and saw that they had dropped it to a fishable level so that is where I went.

The rod was rigged for streamers, and I discovered that I still had a cople of tan and white clousers, so when I got to the first fishable run I went for it.

In short order I had three short strikes, at least the fish were interested.







Some trashy people fish down here too...









After catching a couple of handfuls, I moved on down and took a break.







Then it was back to catching and the catching was good until the sun came out and the river settled into its low flow.





It was an unexpectedly good day with over a dozen to hand and many more short strikes or ldrs. Only one fly all day.

[woolly bugger]

#40

58 and sunny , cloudless sky

After taking care of chores and errands I finally got up to the river at 3:00. The wind was wickedly blowing in strong gust and the flag flew straight out in a downstream direction. The recon was rigged with a clouser from the other day, so I went with that. The water was up  a couple of inches and slightly stained.



The fishing was off a bit from the other day. Maybe I needed a sink tip in the slightly higher flow, but I managed to get a handful of punes to take the fly.





The wind continued to blow, and I had had enough abuse, So I hiked out at 6:00.



inch worm season approaches

[woolly bugger]

#41

55 SUNNY Gas $3.88

The flow was down 30 cfs and clear. I was thinking it would be a nymphing day, but I still had a clouser tied on, so when I got to the first run I waded out and set up for the first cast. As the fly swung out of the main channel and moved in front of a submerged boulder, I watched a trout rise up off the bottom, chase after and attack the fly! Now it's always great to get off to a quick start, but often it is a curse to catch a fish on the first cast. 




57 cast later and I hooked another fish, I was hoping that it was a good brown but disappointingly turned out to be a stockbow.



Then it was lunch time... Loon Cafe's Minnesota Wild Rice Soup, know to PFFers as Loon Stew.





As I was finishing up my beer I spotted a raft coming down and through the run that I was planning to hit next. I took my time before fishing it. It didn't pan out and I started working my way down the pool. There were a number of winter stones in the air and I saw a trout take one, so I switched over to a dry fly all the time keeping a eye on the spot where the fish rose. Finally after rerigging I was ready to cast, "now exactly where was that fish?, I asked myself.

I made the cast and watched the drift as it went over where I thought the fish rose, it went over and past and then I started to pick up the line and the fly skated an inch and the trout rose to the moving target and of course missed as I pulled the fly off the water. Damn it! Well, I cast again and this time the trout took the fly!



I saw a few more trout rise and I managed to entice a half dozen to take the fly. It wasn't easy and it took a lot of time and patience.

Another, the second, flycraft floated by and reported a slow day. I concurred.



I saw one rise and it sounded like a toilet flush, I spent 20 minutes trying to get it to rise again. It didn't happen.

Then Alex came on down in his Stealthcraft. I took another break.



It was getting late and there was a basketball game to watch, so I headed out.

[woolly bugger]

#42

64 Sunny

I was hoping for a repeat of yesterday, the river was down a few more cfs and even clearer or seemed that way in the bright sunlight from a cloudless sky.

The wind wasn't too bad when I started hiking in but by the time I got downstream it was blowing hard. I fished for a bit but was frustrated being unable to mend effectively, I caught nothing. So I decided to have lunch, but I couldn't keep the stove lit so it was cold soup for me.



This guy must be a guide as he was down yesterday with a different dude.



The gusts would come and go and at times it was calm, and I even saw a fish rise. But as soon as I thought about dry fly fishing the wind picked back up and blew harder than before.

I was almost ready to give up but went back out to try and catch at least one. During the lulls, I was able to catch a handful.







Another guide came on down...


Also, the plastic hatch has started, two yaks and a canoe.

And that was it, I hit a few other spots on the way out, but nothing much was happening.

[woolly bugger]

#43 Partly Cloudy 72 degrees, gas $3.89

I was hoping that the creek would be fishable, it was flowing clear but quick and I had trouble catching fish as I think they were glued to the bottom, so the walk in the woods was mostly looking at wildflowers...

photo dump...





still a few trout lilies around

splintered tree, felt like paper







DSFK







Woodpeckers or bear?