What a Difference a Day Makes! (part 2)

Back around the 17th of January I wrote “What a Difference a Day Makes”. Being a bit of a fly fishing nerd, I was really curious what it would be like going back to the same spot on my favorite river in Idaho! As the story goes, I had this great day in January where big rainbows were rising to eat midges. Fortunately, I had a good pattern match and managed to land four good sized fish that day. I felt really great heading home and made the decision then, to come back to the same spot the next day, hence the post the following day, “What a Difference a Day Makes”. The next day, even though the conditions were similar, the hatch did not materialize, hence no rising fish in my spot. Thankfully a fellow fly fisherman said there were rising fish upstream, but they were much smaller. However, those fish saved my day.

This weekend, Friday March 4th and Saturday the 5th I had a similar experience. On Friday I found fish rising to midges at my previous spot from the January 17th post. It was shortly after noon. I rigged up my Scott G2 9004/4 a 10′ leader with the terminal tippet in size 5.5X. The 4wt was an easy decision today as I did not want to rig two. The 4wt is a utility rod. I could nymph or swing soft hackles while waiting for the hatch to come off. This time, fish were already rising right when I go there. I tied on a size 24 Adams midge and felt like I was getting refusals, so I went with a size 26 adult midge, that was very sparsely tied. The midges on the water were a ~size 30 in mostly black. The new fly was the ticket and I got an eat shortly after tying it on. I was shocked but managed to make the set anyway. Right way, I realized this fish was much bigger than expected. As soon as he felt the point of the hook, he took off toward the bigger, faster water. This fish made several runs before coming to the net. I figured him to be about 17″. Felt good to get the similar feeling from the time before, the January 16th post “Winter Dy Fly Fishing at its Best”. Same spot, similar fly, fish fish was big. I pounded the spot from 12:30 to 2pm and it went dead. I feel like I was having casting accuracy issues, and perhaps getting some refusals. But I did manage one more nice fish, just a bit smaller. As I was headed upstream, back towards the truck, I came to the nymphing spot. A spot that I had done well previously. I changed out my rig to a nymph rig, which is even easier with the tippet ring. I tied on a larger midge nymph, a bead-head in red. The money fly was the one I had all the success on before, the Frenchie Soft Hackle. This one I tied however. Sure enough they were where they were before. The first was on right away. A very strong fish, a 16″ rainbow. The second fish came after quite a bit of casting and was lying further out in the run. My indicator just stopped, when it does, I’m programmed to set. It felt like a snag. I tugged and the fly was stuck, until the snag moved. Browns and rainbows fight so differently. This one just tugged steadily, but it finally came to hand. It was good sized with a kype jaw, typical of larger salmonids. The third fish ate just as I was about to call it a day. It was an upstream cast and it ate in fairly shallow water. This was a bigger rainbow than the one previously. Not in length, but is size and weight. Anyway, this fish fought brilliantly. At that point I was satisfied, quite ecstatic about my day actually. On the drive home, just as I did the time before, I decided to return to the same spot the following day, and that day was today, March 5th.

My brain immediately went into game planning mode. Checked the weather and although there was a chance of snow, conditions were very similar. Heavily clouded skies and a similar temperature profile both days, made me believe that the hatch would take place about the same time. So today, I woke up thinking if I got there earlier right when the hatch started, I should be there between 11:00 and 11:15, so my plan was to leave the cabin at 9:30am. I was so stoked this morning that I was up at 7:15, made my french press Costa Rican coffee and drank two cups, had my shower and walked the dog and was dressed and ready to be out the door at 9:15. This departure had me on the water at 11am. And yes! there were fish rising! Quite a lot actually, only problem and I realized this as I was pulling into the lot was the winds were howling. Gusts to well over 20mph. The wind direction was directly downstream which is hugely problematic for me as I like to be behind the fish and cast upstream. I can also control the drift better.

So I took the same position as yesterday, but the casts into the wind were truly brutal. I decided to start with a size 24 Adams, but thought I was getting refusals. The next fly was a size 26 Griffiths Gnat and it was short lived as well. I got a good look at some of the natural midges floating by and determined that they were a size 30. The I chose the smallest, darkest and sparsest fly in my box, a size 26 adult midge. At this point I was about 30 min in. I was debating going with a size 6.5X tippet, but the fish are big and I would be concerned about break-off’s. I chose my 4wt G2. I didn’t want to rig two rods and I knew that the 4wt, was a reasonable compromise between my preferred dry fly rod, my Scott G2 3wt and my 5wt, which I use a lot for nymphing. What was really happening was I really struggled getting my entire leader and tippet to fully lay out, casting directly into the wind. I’m convinced that this is why they were “tippet shy”. The tippet was in bunches. I did manage a few clean casts however. One landed right in the zone and I finally got an eat. After a few solid runs, I brought her to the net, a gorgeous 17″ rainbow. After a bunch more casts I decided to give up on the dry fly. I decided that I knew where the fish were based upon where they were rising. So I tied on a small soft hackle and an RS2 which is supposed to be a BWO emerger and I find it deadly in the month of March, especially on the Flaming Gorge of the Green River in Utah. Alas, I totally struck out with this combo, and I was getting frustrated because the wind would not let up.

Next, I headed up river and checked out a spot up there where I had located rising fish before. This time, no dice! At this point I was really ready to head back to the truck. Something told me no and I headed back down stream to my previuos spot. There was one fish rising. I was above him and I got to thinking I had way more confidence getting my line fully extended using a downstream and downwind cast. Also, I had the fly on that worked earlier, and I went down to 6.5X! I was determined! Well, it worked! After about ten casts, dialing in the distance and then timing the rises, I got the eat. Immediately this fish took off toward the opposite bank like a freight train. I had the drag perfectly set for 6.5X. At the end of a 60′ run he jumped and shook and his fighting skills really impressed me. It took some doing but i got him to the net and for me that was the cap on a nearly excellent day. My regret was that I did not think to position myself for a downstream cast earlier in the day. I had a a great sense of satisfaction as i headed for the truck. I learned a lot today.