First Camp
To be honest, I didn't think I would be fishing on this trip...the water flow was roaring high and fast a week ago. And then, seemingly overnight, the flows dropped and I find myself fishing. Fabulous! My intention for this trip was to check out several streams on the mountain to see if my honey holes were still there...but that plan flew out the window. After arriving and seeing the stream flow at the campsite, I picked three places to fish for the two days, and had a blast.
The one nighter in the campground was nice, quiet, and peaceful. It was a time to enjoy a campfire, have a nice dinner, and kick back with a cold brew...NOT. Actually, it was a steady rain during the evening and so, no campfire or dinner on the grill...just a cold brew and sandwich. I enjoyed it anyway because I was in the middle of a good book and got in a record number of chapters before falling to sleep. On these one nighters, I always sleep in the truck camper that requires virtually no setup, just put a cot and sleeping bag in the truck bed and I'm good. This kind of camping is all about fishing with no thought of camping luxuries.
For two days I was mostly limited to fishing in the mornings since thunderstorms rolled into the area around noon each day. It was very similar to our annual monsoons which I hope are not starting this soon! However, the abbreviated time I was able to spend casting a dry fly into the mountain Rios was very worthwhile...caught enough of the "Leetle Fellers" to consider the trip a success. The first day resulted in several wild brown trout in the 8" to 10" range. The second day gave up some beautiful trout in the 10" to 12" size, and chunky to boot...awesome day of fishing that had to end with rain, hail, and lightening running me off of the mountain. That's okay, I enjoyed the ride home thinking about all of the trout I caught and listening to Emmylou Harris streaming through the speakers.
Gear: Winston IM6 7'6" 3wt fly rod; Bauer SST3 fly reel; Winston Energy WF3F; Several assorted dry flies with a black Elk Hair Caddis being the prime dry fly.
A few random photos of this week's fishing trip...
Way to go Mike! You braved the stormy weather on Rainy Mtn. I’ve been watching the cfs everyday and didn’t think they’d be going for dry flies but you managed to succeed. I’m jealous!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rich. I got to test out my new cot for the truck camper...it's a keeper. The streams were full, but fishing very good. After being caught in electrified air up there a couple of years ago, I wasn't taking any chances. It hailed on me for a good 40 minutes or more as I left the stream and was driving out to the highway. Very stormy! Driving down the mountain I could see the rain on top was already jacking up the stream along the road.
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