Fishing Forum

Ready for a peaceful day of hiking to get away from the crowds, I took a long Sunday drive to check out some "curiosity spots" of mine. This bit of hunchwater caught my eye a couple of years ago while hounding around some satellite maps and the subliminal itch had finally surfaced enough to scratch.

Departure was very early, although an hour later than I had hoped for. The sun had already been shining for some time when I reached the best parking spot I could find. Nice country to start the day:





There was a small group of people that had set up camp further down the patch of grass and one gentleman was fly fishing the creek. We spoke briefly and he said that his party had no intention of hiking to the ponds. He reported a few hits on the creek, downstream.

While he continued up to a fence and back, I readied my 3wt, a spinning rod, and a small pack. We spoke a little more and he took off downstream. Before hiking up the hill and into the thick of things, I couldn't resist flipping a stick at some active feeders in the creek.

A green hopper hung with a rust colored beaded scud made for a quick taker on the first cast, but it shook off before I could bring it in. A couple of casts later, this colorful little guy grabbed my dropper and put a on my face:



Not a bad place to catch a fish:



With the first catch under my belt, I moved on up the hill to lay my curiosities to rest. A small, very lightly used trail guided me in the general direction of my first target, although there were several spots where I couldn't tell it was there. Had it not been for my GPS, finding my spot would've taken much longer (been there, done that).

Pretty little pond.





It looked to be pretty shallow at first, so I checked out the other side where I couldn't see the bottom in some spots. Casting marabou jigs wasn't producing anything after several color changes, so I switched to the fly rod after casting a worm out to rest on the bottom while I worked the top.

An overgrown beaver dam provided a stable platform with room for a back cast and I tried for quite awhile with no luck. Eventually, I ruined my leader and just set it all down for a moment while I sat to take in the scenery and some water. My thoughts were drifting to the next spot on the agenda and calling this one a salamander farm.

Suddenly, a fish broke the surface and the silence. I quickly re rigged my fly rod (worm still soaking) and ventured to a spot that I could gently wade out in for a better cast. This time, my floater was a mayfly pattern with an olive scud dropper. Upon my first decent cast, I finally caught a fish from this quiet pond:



A bit smaller than I'd hoped for, but it was a fish and to me, it didn't even exist 10 minutes earlier. The next while was fishless, so I left to find pond # 2. This proved to be quite the task, even with the GPS, as I lost track of any human trails or others several times along the way. There scenery kept me occupied while I wandered on.



It was a relief once I'd finally arrived to see a deeper looking pond tucked away in a nice depression:



There were a ton of logs drifting freely, which made for tough casting in spots, but I kept after it and only saw signs of huge salamanders. I even had a couple nip at my fly while my rod was set down for jig casting. No hookups. A tube may have helped me out here.



After throwing everything I could think of for the next couple of hours, I never saw any traces of fish, nor did I get any definitive bites. On one retrieve, there was a slight wiggle to one bounce, but my jig may have just knocked between a couple of rocks...

Between hiking and fishing for several hours, trying another area on my hunch list started sounding worthwhile. Luckily, my trip down the mountain was much easier upon choosing a better path. A couple more ponds showed themselves and I tried my luck on them as they did. It's such beautiful country and it was great to explore it.





Pity that there were no fish that I could tell of. Some spots looked pretty fishy.





Eventually, I made it back to my starting point, where I succumbed to the temptations of the creek, once again.



A couple more brookies bent my rod and many more just ignored me while I ate away another chunk of time. Once satisfied, I decided to bag the other destinations (due to 'mountain lag') and hit the road for home. It was a long drive and more fishing would have pushed my time envelope dangerously close to dangerous territory.



I couldn't resist one last stop while passing by though:



No fishing, just observing. Back to the open road to cap a beautiful, placid day in the land of happy little trees.

Happy Fishing, Humans.


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Another great report and beautiful scenery.
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Beautiful picutres and looks like a wonderful spot.
Thanks for sharing.
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