Went fishing with an old friend today, he was the first person to ever hand me a fly rod and show me how it worked. Yet for one reason or another (mostly proximity), we've never fished together. But he and another friend were passing through and I took the morning off to find us some trout. I chose the spot where I had, less than two weeks ago, had the best day ever in terms of the number of trout caught. But today was very different. Lots of recent rain had water levels where I like them, but it was still pretty murky. Usually this stream is quite clear, and I'm sure it will be again tomorrow. But today you couldn't see your feet in knee-high water.
So for whatever reason, the fishing was very slow. Hooked a couple, landed one. My friend hooked a smallie but opted for a long distance release, must be North Carolina Style. But the weather was beautiful and we had fun. Mid-day they had to continue their trip north and I stayed to sabotage any hopes of doing any work by the time I got home. I hiked a ways, looking to change my luck and my persistence paid off. This nice rainbow took a stone fly nymph off the bottom in about five feet of water -- the deepest pool I'm aware of at this stream. I was standing on a boulder when I caught him, guiding my rod tip around the edge, along with the current. He was hooked good, but when I got him close enough to see I realized I hadn't really thought the whole thing through: I couldn't reach the water with the net, and the 6X tippet I was using was not going to take lifting him up to me. So I had to do some shuffling and steering and pulling to get both him and me to a location where we could meet, but it all worked out and I snapped this picture for my friend, knowing that the old "right after you left I caught this sweet rainbow" thing would never fly.
Went fishing with an old friend today, he was the first person to ever hand me a fly rod and show me how it worked. Yet for one reason or another (mostly proximity), we've never fished together. But he and another friend were passing through and I took the morning off to find us some trout. I chose the spot where I had, less than two weeks ago, had the best day ever in terms of the number of trout caught. But today was very different. Lots of recent rain had water levels where I like them, but it was still pretty murky. Usually this stream is quite clear, and I'm sure it will be again tomorrow. But today you couldn't see your feet in knee-high water.
So for whatever reason, the fishing was very slow. Hooked a couple, landed one. My friend hooked a smallie but opted for a long distance release, must be North Carolina Style. But the weather was beautiful and we had fun. Mid-day they had to continue their trip north and I stayed to sabotage any hopes of doing any work by the time I got home. I hiked a ways, looking to change my luck and my persistence paid off. This nice rainbow took a stone fly nymph off the bottom in about five feet of water -- the deepest pool I'm aware of at this stream. I was standing on a boulder when I caught him, guiding my rod tip around the edge, along with the current. He was hooked good, but when I got him close enough to see I realized I hadn't really thought the whole thing through: I couldn't reach the water with the net, and the 6X tippet I was using was not going to take lifting him up to me. So I had to do some shuffling and steering and pulling to get both him and me to a location where we could meet, but it all worked out and I snapped this picture for my friend, knowing that the old "right after you left I caught this sweet rainbow" thing would never fly.
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