This post is a sequel to the post “WInter Dry Fly Fishing at it’s Best”.
So last night after posting the story referenced above, I got all excited about returning to the same spot the next day, Sunday. That was this morning as it is now Sunday night. I even had the same dinner tonight as last night, pesto salmon, asparagus and mushrooms sauté ‘d in olive oil and chopped garlic. However, the fishing today was no where near the same and I have a fellow fisherman, Andy to thank for salvaging a disastrous day. OK, the day was great, the catching, non-existent. More about that later.
My enthusiasm had me heading out the door early today, off to Ashton. My plan was the same as yesterday as the conditions were similar except there was a lot more sun. We were a few degrees warmer today. To me, this was a good thing. It might mean warmer water and air, which intensify the hatch. So the plan was fish streamers until the hatch happens, which could be earlier if the water is warmer. I even tied on the same streamers as yesterday. The Scotty McFly, no eats, took it off pretty quickly. Went back to the tried and true Midnight fire leech. No dice. Fished it for a long stretch too.
It was now 12:30 and I was expecting the rising trout any minute. There were plenty of midges on the water. But it was a waiting game, and of course i was scanning above, to my side and occasionally below. Nothing! Yes, I did streamer fish some while I was waiting but I kept a close eye out for heads. One idea that came to mind was the fish were reluctant to rise in the same spot as yesterday, which was only about 10″ deep. I thought the bright sun, could make them targets from above. Not sure how else to explain it.
There was a fisherman upstream and I noticed he just landed a nice fish nymphing. I decided to go up and ask him about the fly. I don’t nymph a lot, but i do when nothing else is working. This dude was in a perfect spot, right where the riffle turns into a run. He was fishing the seam. Perfect no wonder he had just landed a nice fish, maybe 16-17″. He had a two fly rig, a size 18 bead head midge, the other fly was a perdigon style nymph. The fish took the perdigon which surprised me at first. This winter has been flying by, it is already Jan 16th. The spring BWO hatch will get started in mid-March and peak around mid-April. Spring BWO’s will be 14’s and 16’s, and the nymphs should be moving around about now. I told him I was swinging streamers and getting nothing. Then he asked the “question of the day”, Are the fish moving to a streamer? I promptly said no they are not, they are real lethargic now because of the low water temp. Of course, then I had an aha moment. If the fish are not going to move on your fly, why swing a streamer at all? You basically have to hit them on the head. Yesterday’s first fish was taken on a leech. It was at the end of the swing, and I let the leech suspend there for about 15 seconds, that was when I got the eat.
The fisherman, who’s name is Andy, and I had a long conversation about drift boats. He just moved to Idaho with his wife. They have jobs at INL (Idaho National Labs). The labs are in the middle of nowhere, west of Idaho Falls. Employees tend to live in Idaho Falls or Blackfoot, with a one hour commute each way. He told me he was getting a drift boat and I asked, which kind? He is getting a Hyde XL, which is a great boat, it is being built now. I told him my Hyde was being built as well and due to be finished in Mid-February. Anyway, after a lot of chit chat, including talk of Scott Fly Rods and chasing steelhead, I finally decided to head back down stream and check for rises. Nada.
So I went back up and was thinking about leaving, but Andy had said earlier that he found rising trout upstream but got refusals on his size 18 Adams. I showed him my 24 and also pointed at the water and he agreed that 24 was the right size. SO I asked him, where upstream and he gave me pretty good directions. I headed up along the bank and found the spot. Several fish rising. i got right on it and had my first fish right away, albeit, a small one. I was warming up for the bigger fish who were rising out in the middle. I picked up three more smallish fish including a brown, but the big fish in the middle, stopped rising. Ten minutes later it shut down altogether. I contemplated changing rigs and nymphing. There is some good structure in the middle, perfect for the bigger fish.
Nah, thanks to Andy there was a last minute save and I felt pretty good, so I headed back to the truck. A good learnings day. I ran into a fisherman ur-rigging by my truck. He was not into the cold weather and was calling it. The high did reach 26, which was higher than predicted. This guy was down at Vernon and said he a couple of huge rising trout, 20″+. He only brought his nymph gear so he was ill equipped and couldn’t capitalize. Funny, but part of my plan was to head down to Vernon. I chuckled and kinda wished I had, but one never knows!
On the way home, as the sun was setting, there was a beautiful rising full moon! And the Tetons were silhouetted beautifully! We live in a beautiful place!
