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| Welcome to the summer grind. |
It’s been hot,
but a little less humid (until today). Flows
are still decent, however, and we had two cool, clear nights that dropped into
the 60s, so never say never. My buddy Ron
has already called out how long my so-called last trip of the season can
stretch on and on every summer. Guilty
as charged. I call this time of the year
the grind—not the MTV dance show and workout tapes but the early morning wet
wading to find a few willing trout. Up
in the dark, arrive before dawn, sneak around low water, and hope there are
some happy fish before 10 AM. Sometimes,
like this morning, I can scare up a half a dozen or more smalls, and sometimes
I even find one that makes the grind worth it.
Sometimes, I just catch some dinks and am grateful for the chance to
fish and enjoy the outdoors before the heat of the day sets in. I probably messed with about 10 fish, from 10
inchers, to holdover bows, to a few YOY that I sent flying with hero
hooksets. With flows so good for July, I
even nymphed pocket water instead of tossing a dry dropper. Tricos were thick, but it was feeling hot by
9 AM, so I did not wait for them to hit the water. It’s just not my scene to fish with 7 or 8X
in marginal water temperatures. On some really
popular spots for this pastime, I am packing up at my parking spot before the
others even start arriving. To each his
own as long as they are carrying a thermometer or chasing stockers that are probably
going to die this summer. No trico
chasers today, but one other dude was out there nymphing this morning. He arrived about an hour after me, but I
still give him props for embracing the grind.
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| Decent one at sunrise. |
I got on the
board early with a couple of dinks before sunrise, but I also landed one of my
better fish for today before 6:30 AM. The
9 incher was tight to a plunge on the soft side of the white water and ate like
he was hungry. Fortunately, or unfortunately,
however you want to look at it, the pattern continued with one fish in each
prime spot of each similar run. If a better
one was in there, but I caught the first dink wiling to eat, I would never know. This can happen when flows get lower and fish
get spookier. The only place I caught
more than one fish, the second fish was a rainbow, so that does not really
count. I was mostly tossing a single, natural
colored bug with a brass bead early, but a single natural, jigged walts with a
silver bead got some attention as the sun rose.
Dry and dry/dropper are fun, but I also enjoy tossing a single small
nymph on 6X and a micro mono rig. I give
it time to sink into the deeper pockets or heavier water, and I lead it through
the skinner stuff. I even get some on
the swing. I also like to throw the single
nymph to the spots I would toss a dry.
Because the splash does not disturb them, it sometimes triggers them to
eat on the fall. That happened a couple
of times this morning. I was hoping one
of the eaters in these prime lies close to cover would be a better fish, but
not today.
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| A solid showing of small fish. |
I had to follow
rough deer trails to a couple honey holes because the brush, grasses, and deadfalls
were pretty thick. I actually find that
encouraging because it means no one else has been back here in a while. That said, one of my honey holes produced an average
brown and a holdover rainbow (so it was my two fish hole!) and the other honey
hole held my second 9 inch fish of the morning, which would be my last
fish. I dropped a thermometer at 9 AM, and
the temperature was fine at about 65 degrees.
There were cooler spots near springs and seeps, which I could feel with
my wet legs. It was me who was too hot. After a couple bushwhacking sessions, my glasses
were fogged, and I was regretting not wearing a ventilated trucker hat. Standing in the cool water returned the
balance I was looking for, but too much sun was going to ruin this party in no
time at all. I decided to end with the second
decent wild fish and head for the deer trails once more. There was shade at the parking area, so I prolonged
my time in the woods a little longer than I normally do. I had a snack and some iced coffee on the bumper of the 'Ru, which allowed the wet
pants to dry a bit for the ride home. Even at 9:30 AM, it
was already too hot to roll the windows down on the drive home. Welcome to the grind, y’all.
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| Bonus shot |
