Saturday, March 8, 2014

The Thaw

It's that time of year again. A warm front has moved in giving us the first feeling of spring. I took advantage and headed to the mtns. It's the same every year. I fight with trees the first 20min. There's time spent figuring out my cast again and learning how to properly nymph. It's only been a few months since I fished for trout but my casting and drifts were horrible. My hooksets were abysmal. The first few fish literally swam away with my fly before I even noticed they were on. There were several foul hook sets which usually is a result of poor timing. It took me a while to finally hook a fish in its mouth. It might take a few months to forget the tug of a trout but only 2 seconds to remember the joy of catching one.
Just like the weather was figuring itself out I was doing the same. Eventually my cast, timing and drift came together. I started to realize what the fish wanted and got into a rhythm. The sun was intense and the bugs were taking advantage. I've never seen this many mayflies on this stretch of river. The ground has been snow covered for over a week and the scenery still has the look of winter.
My buddy had me try his secret fly and it was doing well. Eventually I had to try my soft hackles. The current made me play around with different depths. Once the flies were on the bottom the fish started to come. It was a great day and I'm glad to know my soft hackles are still working. It seemed the color of the bead made a difference. The fish preferred the gold bead as apposed to copper.

4 comments:

  1. Good to hear that you got out and thawed out your nymphing tecniques. By the way, I love soft hackles flies and they, generally, produce most of the time. There "is" something about gold beads for beadheads. Have a friend who fishes noting but beadhead nymphs with gold bead heads.

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  2. I almost used soft hackles exclusively last year for trout. That's all I used this last weekend and another fly similar to a wooly worm. The gold bead definitely was the difference maker.

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  3. At last it's happening. Here's to a great new season your way!

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  4. Kevin
    I am with you when it comes to getting back in the groove of fly fishing. It happen last Sunday afternoon with me, which was my first trip since Nov. 2013. Those are some healthy looking trout, not to mention a nice looking stream to kick off the season for you. Thanks for sharing

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