Location: Oatka Creek, 3.08'
Time: 1:00P-3:30P
Predominant Bug(s): A midge landed on me, saw a couple popping off the surface but didnt ID them
Thought I'd take advantage of some nice weather and do some fishin! I've tried and failed in the past to fish with nymphs, so I thought I'd give them a try again. I tied on a gold ribbed pheasant and an unweighted pheasant, both 18s to a couple feet of 7x tippet, and made a couple casts with a couple splits and an indicator. I tried a couple fairly uniform riffles with no luck and decided to move after I broke off on some rocks.
I switched up to heavier 5x with a size 12 prince and a size 18 transluscent bead pheasant and cast a few times to a riffle with a nice seam on the right hand side. Now it was a little too choppy in the riffle for me to discern much adverse indicator movement, so any semblance of a quick set was out the window. I was snagging bottom fairly regularly, which I understand is a good thing, so I got into a rhythm of putting some tension into the snags to free them. So you can imagine my surprise when the rock I thought I had snagged on started moving! My first trout on a nymph and first of 2013!! It was a beautiful 14" brown and what a great fight it put on with a couple of nice runs. He actually made me feel like my first day fishing all over again, I could get him in the net, had to dunk him back in the water multiple times to breathe because I couldnt get the tippet out from under his tongue. But amidst all that, that fish reminded me what it was all about, what a great thrill it was.
It was unfortunate I found that nice seam with so little time left available. A few casts later rewarded me with another tight line, but alas he broke free in the midst of a scamper downstream. If only I knew which fly fooled him.
Overall, what a great day on the water!
