New Fly, Nice Fish

So I stopped in the fly shop the other day looking for some lighter materials to tie some new rubber leg patterns.  Unfortunately they were all sold out of the color materials that I wanted and I settled on a rust/olive chenille with some ginger colored leg material.  I figured it would work as I'm not 100% that color even matters but I do want to have my bases covered. 
Yesterday I got out and enjoyed a lovely spring day on the water and fished my new pattern.  After fishing a bit and not getting any fish on it I switched to some other colors that "seemed" to perform better.  Later in the day I put the new pattern back on and fished it for perhaps 15 minutes with no action.  I was just about to write it off as the wrong color or wrong color combination when I hooked a nice fish.  The fish jumped and I saw a great Rainbow.  There's something really exciting about seeing a big Rainbow jump 2' out of the water.  It fought hard and I was able to ease it into the calm water.  What do you know, he took the pattern I was about to give up on.  In the next 20 minutes I hooked up 6 or 8 fish on the new fly, landed most of them, and had one that was probably every bit as good as the big one that I saw in the heavy water, tried to turn him, and was unable to make him move.  Ultimately the fly came free on that one.  Unusual for sure, but interesting to see a big fish get hooked up in heavy water and then use it's weight and the current to hunker down. 
The good fish turned out to be 19" and fat.  Unfortunately there was no hatch yesterday, but at the end of the day I put on a dry anyway and was able to rise a few fish. 
Here's a pic of the 19" Rainbow.

Here are few pics of some decent fish caught on other waters in the past week.

First Solid Hatch of 2011

Well it finally happened.  Yesterday the Baetis showed up in large enough numbers to get fish looking up for a couple of hours.  I was fishing a new piece of water on one of my favorite rivers when I started to see a few heads tilting up.  At this point in the year, after nymphing for nearly 6 months it only takes a few rises for me to take off the indicator, weight, and heavy flies and rig up a dry.  I landed a couple of fish as the winter storm that was predicted seemed to be rolling in and I was getting rained on a bit. 

I had fished through a beautiful piece of water a little earlier in the day and had made a mental note to hightail it back there if fish started rising as it looked like it a great spot for fish to be taking Baetis duns.  Sure enough I headed back downstream and standing on the elevated bank watched several fish rise.  I carefully waded into the water and started fishing to individual, rising fish.  For the next couple of hours I was able to experience a textbook Spring Baetis hatch.  I only moved perhaps 20 yards during the entire hatch and landed 30 fish or more ranging from 12-18".  As is normally the case on this particular river the Rainbows outnumbered the Browns by 6 to 1 or so.   Of course I missed my share and broke off a few quality fish on the hookset.  I probably could have landed another 20 fish if I wasn't spending so much time changing flies.  I had perhaps 8 BWO parachute flies that have been in my box for a while that I wanted to fish first as I'm trying to rotate out all the flies that aren't my own ties.  The flies worked great but unfortunately weren't durable.  Each fly would catch 2 or 3 fish before being destroyed.

There really are few sights as beautiful as a quality trout gently tipping it's head back and taking a dry.  For two hours the river came alive and virtually every dun on the water got eaten and at times every cast rose a fish. 

Of course by the time I got back within 10 miles of Bozeman I was driving through a violent Spring storm with sleet coming down so thick it was hard to see.  This morning we awoke to a fresh 3 inches of snow.  Oh well, today will be spent tying more durable Baetis patterns for next time. 

18" Rainbow

Another quality Rainbow 17.5"

New Water

Yesterday I took a drive to a river I've never seen, let alone fished before.  It feeds into a lake and I was hoping I might find some of the resident Rainbows from the lake up in the river prior to them spawning.  As I wasn't even sure if I could legally access the river, let alone if there would be any fish in it, it was a bit of a crapshoot. 

It was sunny with no big wind, which has been a real rarity this spring.  I was able to find some access and liked the looks of the river. 

Visibility in the water was 12" or so and it was flowing a pretty good clip.  I think I can safely assume it was running high and off color as we are starting to see some evidence of runoff.  I started fishing with great optimism that perhaps I could find some big migratory fish out of the lake.  After an hour and a half of fishing I had tried perhaps 10 different combinations of flies and had yet to touch a fish.  I had cell coverage and had brought my phone with me as there was a possibility of me needing to be available for a "business" call.  The phone rang and I couldn't get my Bluetooth on in time to answer it.  I made the call back as this was in fact the call I thought might come. 

As we are discussing the situation I see my indicator slow a bit.  I set and say, is this a log?  Something heavy was on but it wasn't immediately apparent if it was a fish or a stick.  As I lifted up the fish showed itself.  It was a big beautiful Rainbow.  Meanwhile I'm still on the call as I fight the fish...makes me thankful for my Bluetooth.  I'd like to say it fought like I stole something from it, but that would be a lie.  The fish was heavy and I had to make a dash downstream 30 or 40 yards to finally land it but for the size of the fish it didn't put up a good fight.  I wouldn't say it felt like a wet towel but I was able to land it on a 3 wt in what I would guess was 3 minutes.  As is usually the case when you hook a big fish, I had left my net in the van and there was nowhere to beach the fish as the river is running bank to bank.  I tried grabbing it but it was too big to get my hand around it.  I finally managed to kind of scoop it up onto the bank. 

Through all of this I'm still on the phone.  My buddy on the line wants me to get a picture of it, as do I.  I also want to measure it as it is a large fish.  If I had my net all of this would be much easier as I could hold it in the net in the water allowing it to breath and recuperate while I get my tape measure and camera out.  Instead I start cupping water out of the river with my hands and throwing it on the fish as it is flopping around in the mud.  I get my tape out and measure it, 22" of lake resident Rainbow.  I would have liked to have measured the girth as it was incredibly thick.  However, I don't like killing fish unless I'm going to eat them and I couldn't risk keeping it out of the water any longer than absolutely necessary.  I laid my rod next to the fish and tried to snap a picture.  It flopped around and ultimately I got one lousy photo of it.  The photo doesn't do it justice as this fish was likely around 5lbs. 

I put in another hour an half or so and got one more take.  It ended up being a 17" Rainbow.  I probably should have stayed and fished some more.  I had reached the private property boundary and with the river flowing so full I really didn't feel like staying in the water the rest of the day to avoid trespassing. 

All in all I enjoyed this new piece of water and will likely fish it again before runoff is in full force.  My biggest takeaway was how different lake fish are from resident river fish.  The 22" Rainbow up out of the lake fought about like an 18" resident river fish.  That isn't a complaint as it's still fun to land a 5lb fish, just an interesting observation.

Wind, Wind and More Wind

The one constant we've been seeing this Spring is big wind.  The fishing hasn't been great so I haven't really been taking any fish pictures as who really gives a crap to see a 14" fish?  I've got big plans for exploring some new water either tomorrow or later in the week.  Perhaps I'll have something impressive to post.  In the meantime enjoy a few pictures from today. 

Where did Spring Go?

Last Friday I saw 60F for the first time since later October.  By Sunday we had rain, snow, sleet, sunshine, and sleet once again.  As I sit here it is raining and feels much colder out than the 36F the thermometer reads.  Springtime in the Rockies is an interesting time.  Before moving here I envisioned this being the cruelest season.  I suspected that after a long, cold, brutal winter I'd be so sick of the cold that I'd be dying to get out of here.  Fortunately that hasn't been the case at all.  Thanksgiving was in fact the most difficult time as it was -20F and I knew there was 6 months of cold coming.  Now that we are on the tail end of the cold it is a lot easier to take. 
I haven't really gotten excited to sit down and stock my flyboxes with Mother's Day Caddis, or even anymore Baetis patterns.  I sit down tie 3 or 4 flies and then get bored and move on to something else.  I suppose I had better just make myself tie for a day to get ahead. 
Anyway, I did get out on Saturday and fished one of my favorite freestones before the storm came in.  It was an interesting day to say the least.  It started with my first cast resulting in a tangled mess.  Even great casters occasionally get a tangle when throwing weight, an indicator, and a couple of flies but it usually doesn't happen on your first cast of the day.  What a start....after rigging myself up a second time I made a cast and had a solid hookup.  This river isn't known for producing fish much over 17" with any sort of regularity.  It certainly has some quality fish but they aren't something you get to see on a regular basis.  The fish made a leap after crossing the run and heading downstream and I saw a solid 20" Rainbow.  As soon as I got excited about that it came unbuttoned.  That hurt but I guess it's better to have loved and lost....I guess.

I went downstream a bit more and a guy on the other bank got off his earth mover to ask how the fishing was.  This river is notorious for rich, sometimes famous, landowners being less than friendly to wading anglers.  This guy was very nice and wanted to chat so we did so for a bit.  Eventually he went back to work we caught some quality fish and started working our way back upstream. 

Perhaps 20 minutes later my new found friend wanted to chat some more.  This time about the economy, his business, rent in Bozeman, and the list went on.  I tried to be polite and patient as I tied on a different fly.  As I was distracted I didn't reel in all my flyline.  By the time I had tied on the new fly and went to make a cast my legs were literally tied up in the flyline.  A couple of movements and a brand new line was broke.  It beats going face first into the river and filling my waders.  Needless to say I was pretty pissed as I really had no desire to talk with this guy to begin with and was just trying to be polite.  Anyway I tied the line back together and figure I'll fish it until a big fish parts the two sections.  Sure I'd be pissed if it happened but it also be pretty funny to see 35' of flyline dangling mid river giving away the location of the fish that took the fly. 

Within an hour or so of this fun the wind came in earnest and the rain started.  Sustained 40mph winds were the norm until the rain finally came down hard enough to force us off the water.  In spite of the lost fish, broken equipment, heavy wind, and rain it was great fun to be on the water.  I hope that never changes.  I hope however many years I have on this planet I continue to both be able to fish and enjoy fishing.

Pictures 3.26.11-4.1.11

Been spending a good bit of time on the water now that Spring seems to be showing its head.  Trying to find big Rainbows staging to spawn along with fishing small water for Browns.  Enjoy.

This dog came down to the river and just sat and watched me fish.