How did that happen? Lord, seems like this season is blowing by, not enough time to fish and still take care of responsibilities. Got out for a couple hours before a responsibility that brought me streamside for a meeting. Not a ton of time to fish but enough for a guy to tempt a few, looks like the stocking truck has been here. Rainbows abound, everywhere. Kind of crazy to see it packed the way it was. Saw fish rising on arrival in the mid-afternoon. Didn’t see much in the way of adults to key me to what they were taking and the rises were inconsistent. A few would be splashy almost leaping rises that I would associate with the presence of caddisflies, others read mayfly with the gentle take just barely giving the trout away. I opted to try my luck with a #16 EHC. Landed one, lost two strikes before the trout were on to it and would have no more. Swapped to a #16 P&P and swung it down and across letting it rise as the [singlepic id=1792 w=340 h=260 float=right]current pulled my line. This resulted in some excellent fun with the fat stocker rainbows and a few went home for dinner.
Cleaning the first of three nice rainbows I noticed something bright red and spotted in the stomach contents. The shell of a lady bug, mostly digested but just enough remained to provide photographic proof that the trout here eat Lady Bugs and probably more likely the Asian Beetle. After seeing the one in the stomach I decided to look a bit at the plants around the spot I caught the fish, sure enough I found several just waiting to be blown to the trout dinner table. I moved upstream, fished the P&P as I went and it just reinforced why I love this fly. Cast it upstream and present it like a dead drifted nymph and it will take fish, do a down and across and it will take fish and the new method that happens to be very handy…. remove all weight from your line and fish it like a dry. Fishing longer slower sections I picked the trout rising the most consistently, put my fly just upstream of the target and without much hesitation it was picked off time and time again. My obligation pulled me from the stream as Lt. Hendrickson’s were hatching, pretty late in the day and they were VERY bright lending me to think the hatch I saw was Ephemerella dorothea otherwise known as out “Sulpher” hatch. I got a few craptastic photo’s before I had to go but I’ll take what I get, when I can get it. As I finished my meeting we noticed the spinner fall bring trout to rise in a steady rythem. I wish I could get more later evenings on the water.
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