But autumn's here!

Date: 10/12

Conditions: partly cloudy to sunny, 70-75F

Time: 8:00-11:30

Autumn means tributary fishing in our little corner of the world, but I'm dismayed to say that I hadn't tried it out....until today!  

It's been a few months in the making, but I finally got all my gear together to tackle some autumn tributary fishing.  Being somewhat skittish of tackling a larger river like the Genny for my first time out, I decided on a small creek to the west of the city.  It was Columbus Day weekend which made it out to be a bit more populated than normal I guess.  No matter, just a little stroll downstream a bit got me to a small pool I could have to myself.  Now I hadn't seen a fully grown salmon in real life before (I mean alive, yes, salmon fillets are large) so I hadn't really prepared myself to see a 3+ foot monster swim past me on the way down!  If I didn't catch a fish, this was definitely going to be an experience!

Conditions seemed to be less than optimal after talking to a few other fisherman.  We haven't had our typical fall weather lately and it's showing in the water level and and air temperatures.  I had tied up a few bunny leeches in white, purple, and chart with hourglass eyes in sizes 2 and 6 for the occasion and chucked them out there.  With the water so low and only tying weighted streamers, I didn't have much choice except to swim them past and keep them out of the weeds.

By the end of my time there I had seen about 10 salmon truck past me, but hadn't hooked into one.  It seemed they were somewhat skittish of the swung fly and may have responded better to a dead drifted presentation.

Next time, I'll tie a few lightly dressed flies to deal with the low water.  I also learned something new yesterday in researching more flies to tie for trib fishing.  Salmon actually eat eggs!  I was under the impression that they don't eat at all while migrating/spawning.  Whoduhthunk?! So I'll tie up some egg sucking leeches and other egg pattern flies for the next time out.

Till next time!

Aaaandd summer's gone...

Just when you think you have all the time in the world, you look back and all of a sudden, summer's in the rear view mirror!  Let me start with the most recent events and work backwards as I'm such a poor blogger!

Date: 9/29 Conditions: Sunny, no significant wind, 74F
Time: 8:30-13:00
Predominant Bug(s): Big ol trico swarms
Gage Height: 2.43'

The day's journey started out at my favorite partially spring-fed inland trout stream.  Though the calendar says summer's pretty much over, the weather said otherwise and it shaped up to be a beautiful day indeed.  The creek is definitely still in summer flow mode with basically no rain for the past week.  That meant our fishy friends dropped back to some of the deeper pools for some extra cover over their backs.

Alas, with the day shaping up to be so beautiful, the fishing ended up being slooowww.  All manner of ants, beetles, nymphs, and streamers couldn't rouse some of the more adventurous trout.  After a good hike upstream to a few of my favorite spots, then back down again chucking a streamer in vain, I called it quits.

Because I'm such a poor blogger, I hadn't written anything about the Kabuto 7043 rod build that I had introduced in the past.  I loved the personalization opportunities that come with building your own rod.  Every component and detail meant something and it truly becomes one of a kind.   Well I finished that rod, it was sitting right in the car, beckoning to be cast.  That coupled with the irresistible urge to, you know, actually catch a fish...

So wandered over to our spring-fed creek nearby, intent on only spending a half hour at most before heading home.  I had taken somewhat of a risk in choosing a fiberglass blank for my new fly rod, but I didn't expect it to be so sweet!  Effortless roll casting from 5-20' and no false casts from 20-30'.  Trout responded well to size 20? PT nymphs but no action on size 18 midge larva.  6 hooks but only two landed, probably could have had more with a size change.  Could be the fishing pressure they see all the time, but I noticed these fish respond well (don't spook) when they're lined, though maybe a 4 wt line is light enough that that doesn't happen?  I don't know.  I had my fair share of errant casts and the targeted fish stayed in their feeding lane or didn't move.

Overall, a nice day to get out on the water!