Standing Room Only

Yeah, everyone is outdoors and enjoying the warm weather. I drove up yesterday afternoon to check out a stream, to see how many anglers are getting out to fish on a weekend. My first time there this year, and whoa, a lot of them. There were a few scattered clouds, but not enough to keep the bright sun from lighting up the stream's surface. Between the fishing pressure and bright sun, the trout were hunkered down. I only stayed a couple of hours after seeing what I went there to learn. Happily, I did manage to get a couple of wild browns into the net...so no stinky stuff was hanging on me.

I don't usually visit this drainage in mid-April due to the higher stream flows typically occurring this time of year. Since we had a lousy snowpack this winter, the flows yesterday were at a level I usually find in mid-summer. Actually, the flows were very nice for fishing a dry fly. However, I couldn't help but wonder as I was wading and casting...what condition will our streams be this coming July? Could be bad news for trout in the heat of summer. Come on monsoons!

Gear: Winston Pure 8' 4wt fly rod; Bauer SST4 fly reel; Rio LightLine WF4F line; Simms sling pack; Wayward landing net; Elk Hair Caddis dry fly.