02-27-2012, 03:13 AM
Headed back to Washington County for a couple days of small stream fishing. Hit the Wash Saturday and late morning temps were already low 60's. Despite the cloudless sky and warm weather I didn't quite manage to land any on dries. Part of the problem may have been I was unable to match the most common terrestrial hatch - lizards.
Some bees, butterflies, flies and even a rare hopper were also out. Had dozens fish taking a look and frequently bumping the fly but without any luck. I did manage to have the line break on the only fish that aggressively took a hopper. My mistake as I knew the line had a nick a couple casts before but was planning just a few more cast and before switching to a nymph. Of course one of the bigger trout around then decides to smash the hopper. Oh well the nymphing was a bit better and managed a good dozen an hour for the next couple hours. Smallest was 3 inches and largest went 14 inches. My second biggest rainbow every for this tiny stream. Water was running about 4-5 cfs and most of the stream is just a few inches deep. Almost thought my dry luck was going to change as one corner of the tall wall canyon was filled with hundreds of big caddis. But by the time I walked up to to the next potential hole a hundred yards away the hatch was gone. I think the sun reflecting off the couple hundred foot wall must had warmed the stream enough to trigger the fairly thick but very narrow area of hatch.
The last pic is from another stream chasing cutthroats today. Fishing wasn't as good, just a handful of very small cutts. The cutts were extremely spooky. So my dog had to stay camouflaged back in the brush as I cast. She was pretty obedient but those fish seemed to have eyes on the back of their head. I spent most of my time watching the cutts swim off. Reminds me of a time on the same small stream and both of my dogs ran up the right side of the bank against my orders. I thought I had no chance at any fish for the next 50 yards. Caught 3 cutts anyway. All 3 had what appeared to be cataracts in their right eye. You know you trained your dogs right when they know what side of the stream is safe to run up and not spook the trout[
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Some bees, butterflies, flies and even a rare hopper were also out. Had dozens fish taking a look and frequently bumping the fly but without any luck. I did manage to have the line break on the only fish that aggressively took a hopper. My mistake as I knew the line had a nick a couple casts before but was planning just a few more cast and before switching to a nymph. Of course one of the bigger trout around then decides to smash the hopper. Oh well the nymphing was a bit better and managed a good dozen an hour for the next couple hours. Smallest was 3 inches and largest went 14 inches. My second biggest rainbow every for this tiny stream. Water was running about 4-5 cfs and most of the stream is just a few inches deep. Almost thought my dry luck was going to change as one corner of the tall wall canyon was filled with hundreds of big caddis. But by the time I walked up to to the next potential hole a hundred yards away the hatch was gone. I think the sun reflecting off the couple hundred foot wall must had warmed the stream enough to trigger the fairly thick but very narrow area of hatch.
The last pic is from another stream chasing cutthroats today. Fishing wasn't as good, just a handful of very small cutts. The cutts were extremely spooky. So my dog had to stay camouflaged back in the brush as I cast. She was pretty obedient but those fish seemed to have eyes on the back of their head. I spent most of my time watching the cutts swim off. Reminds me of a time on the same small stream and both of my dogs ran up the right side of the bank against my orders. I thought I had no chance at any fish for the next 50 yards. Caught 3 cutts anyway. All 3 had what appeared to be cataracts in their right eye. You know you trained your dogs right when they know what side of the stream is safe to run up and not spook the trout[
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