Soft Hackles and Long Legs

Every year I try to host a couple trips for my local fly fishing club. Usually the trips are to delayed harvest streams. The goal is to get people more familiar with how to fish for trout. The day usually comes down to nymphing. Soft hackles have always been a personal favorite. They just seem to work. It could be confidence in fishing them or they could just be the perfect fly. I tried tying a few before the trip.

I didn't like how long the hackle was on each of the flies. No matter how hard I tried to make a sparse looking fly I felt it had too much hackle and the fibers reached too far beyond the fly.

I trimmed them a little but I really don't like doing that. I feel it can give a really artificial look to the fly. Not like the whole thing isn't artificial enough. When we got to the river. The fish were in there usual places. I looked in my fly box trying to decide what to throw first. A voice in the back of my mind kept nagging me. "You just tied those soft hackles last night use those." I figured the best time to try those would be first thing. Then if they didn't work I could move on to other patterns. On my second cast I saw the indicator twitch. I set the hook but missed the fish. I have spent the whole summer chasing small brook trout that hit your fly like starving bluegill. My nymphing techniques were really rusty. After missing a few other strikes I had a fish on.

It was your typical stocked brookie. Bland and beat up but gives a nice tug. The key to most of this water is the drift. For some reason on certain days these fish do not want a dead drift. They want the fly almost dragging behind the indicator. They'll either hit the fly on the drag or hit it on the swing at the end of the drift.

The weather was unseasonably warm. It was in the mid 80's and you could have almost left the waders at home. It's always interesting to see how the fish learn to survive. When they're first dumped in they clump together and stand out like a sore thumb. You can always tell where fish are stocked because there will be about a 100 fish stacked up in a run. It takes about a week or more for the fish to spread out and start acting like an animal that has predators. Many fish were frolicking in the sun just waiting for a heron or eagle to snatch them up. Some fish were figuring it out early. I found this fish in a plunge pool. It had more color than your average stocked brown. It was also lacking the chunkiness of a pellet fed fish. I wonder if it is wild.

There was one section where if you got your drift just right you could catch fish after fish. I tried to show others but nymphing is something that takes a lot of practice. Your setup can make a huge difference. If one person is using just a foot or two longer leader that can be the difference between catching fish or nothing. I found the easiest way to get someone to learn the drift was to just let them use my rod with my setup.

My soft hackles were the fly of the day. The fish seemed to like the long spindly legs. I tried other flies that were similar with smaller legs or none at all. The fish wanted the long legs.

I'll Take It

A string of bad luck has made me yearn for a trip to the mountains in the worst way. I recently was in an accident and my car was in the shop. I bought a new used car yesterday and I figured what better way to test it out than a long drive. I woke up early and gathered my things. I had asked friends to come along but no one was game. I was disappointed but happy at the same time. Going solo you don't have to worry about others agendas. The morning had a nice chill to it and there was a fog that lingered just a few feet off the ground. It would clear as I went up a hill only to devour my car again as I went into a valley. I listened intently for anything strange going on with the car. Finally I decided to relax and let the powers at be take over. I haven't had a working CD player in years. It was a blessing and nice company on the ride up. When I hit the stream there were no other cars in site.  Strange, because it was no secret the delayed harvest streams were recently stocked. I rigged up my gear quickly thinking cars would be surrounding me any time. I choked down a granola bar and water then secured the car and prepared to venture off. Still no cars were seen. I moved down to a spot that was good in the spring and surveyed the water for awhile. I couldn't see anything at first. It always takes me awhile to get my trout vision back. I actually didn't see any fish until I made my first cast and saw several silhouettes move beneath the surface. Yep, the fish were there. They weren't really feeling safe yet. They were following my white wooly bugger but never trying to hit the fly. I switched up with a bead headed soft hackle and a hares ear. About my third cast I saw my indicator move.  I don't know how many strikes I missed. I'm not exaggerating when I say 20 before I caught my first fish. I was really rusty and the first fish I had on shook themselves loose. To make it worse I didn't bring a net.  It has been awhile since I've landed a fish merely by just using my hand.  Especially fish 12-13inches. 

A couple of times the fish would take the above fly and while trying to unhook it the fish would slip take off and embed the dropper in my hand. I just kept thinking I wish I had my net. Even with several hook punctures, missed strikes and short distance releases I was having a blast. I still hadn't seen another fisherman. Then after about an hour one shows up.  I hook a fish almost exactly as the person asks how I'm doing.  It was obvious how we were all going to do today. The fish were here and if you had any previous experience at all you were going to catch them.

I moved down methodically and worked water slowly. I decided to switch it up and try a san juan worm and a bead head soft hackle. I know this run pretty well and it always holds fish. A few casts upstream and working the currents yielded nothing. Then on the swing right before I lifted the rod to recast, my indicator goes under. I lift the rod smoothly thinking maybe it's another leaf. The rod bobs and bows hard.  This is no leaf. Further confirmed by a flash shooting up stream and pealing off line.  The fish was big and at first I thought I for sure hooked a carp or large sucker fish. Then the fish launched out of the water and showed its burgundy stripe. A monster rainbow. One of the biggest I had ever hooked. The fish ran all over the pool and I had to pressure the fish with all my rod had to keep it from going down stream and over a spillway. It probably took 5min to land the fish but it seemed like half an hour. I wish I brought my net. I finally got the fish in hand and got a good view of the beast.

   Damn, foul hooked! 

I'll still take it. Watching a fish this size jump was amazing and the power gives you a real appreciation for catching a fish this big. The day went on and I caught fish in almost all the places I expected them to be. The weather and scenery couldn't have been better. The trees were showing some color and giving glimpses of what's to come. If the wind blew just right you would walk through a curtain of leaves. It's something that can't really be explained but everyone should experience at least once. I probably only landed about 5 fish and had too many long and short distance releases to count. I realized I'm not that great of a fisherman. I just know where to go and what to use. Even with that knowledge I have to hook the fish just right and be on my game. This day definitely wasn't one of my best fishing days but I'll take it.