Caddis
wanna be fly fisher.
I fished the West Branch of the Big D from Thursday morning until Saturday evening.
Thursday was a bit warm but the water temps were cold! I fished the home pool of the DRC for a few hours then went to Hale Eddy. I caught 1 small Rainbow 8" or so and 1 11" brown.
Friday morning nymphed the home pool for a while but no dice here. Went to Hale Eddy and caught a bunch of 7" - 8" fish and 1 11" again! Later on I found out how to get to the "Mens Club" and the "Shack Pool." I didn't fish the Shack pool because there was absolutely nothing happening here. I then went to the Mens Club. Fish were rising across the river but I couldn't get to them from where I was. I had to walk upstream and cross at another location. Fished across the river and bagged a bunch of little 7" - 8" fish. I didn't see much more than that rising. Later on I fished the home pool again, but not much was happening there.
Saturday morning I went to Hale Eddy again and fished the left side of the Bridge all day. Bagged a bunch of little ones in the AM then the action on top stopped. I then fished nymphs for the rest of the day. This is when the action really began. I must have had 20 strong hits on nymphs. Unfortunately I missed most of them, but it was quite exciting. I had 1 bow take a stone fly nymph, almost yanked the rod out of my hand. The Bow jumped about 2 feet in the air and I lost it. Changed nymphs and had a few really hard hits. 1 that stick to mind... The fish hit so hard my rod instantly bent in half. The fish took off down stream and once again, I lost it. I managed to get a few nice trout on nymphs though. Then back at the home pool, fish were rising everywhere. Some small flys were coming off. They appeared to be Mahogany spinners (Iso's??? Possibly, but these were extremely small) Midges were coming off as well as various sulphers. I managed 1 Brown on a size 16 sulpher and he fout for quite some time.
The water temps at Hale Eddy were 42 in the AM and 52 in the afternoon. The average temps at the Home pool were between 52 and 54.
All in all, my weekend of fishing was spectacular.
Thursday was a bit warm but the water temps were cold! I fished the home pool of the DRC for a few hours then went to Hale Eddy. I caught 1 small Rainbow 8" or so and 1 11" brown.
Friday morning nymphed the home pool for a while but no dice here. Went to Hale Eddy and caught a bunch of 7" - 8" fish and 1 11" again! Later on I found out how to get to the "Mens Club" and the "Shack Pool." I didn't fish the Shack pool because there was absolutely nothing happening here. I then went to the Mens Club. Fish were rising across the river but I couldn't get to them from where I was. I had to walk upstream and cross at another location. Fished across the river and bagged a bunch of little 7" - 8" fish. I didn't see much more than that rising. Later on I fished the home pool again, but not much was happening there.
Saturday morning I went to Hale Eddy again and fished the left side of the Bridge all day. Bagged a bunch of little ones in the AM then the action on top stopped. I then fished nymphs for the rest of the day. This is when the action really began. I must have had 20 strong hits on nymphs. Unfortunately I missed most of them, but it was quite exciting. I had 1 bow take a stone fly nymph, almost yanked the rod out of my hand. The Bow jumped about 2 feet in the air and I lost it. Changed nymphs and had a few really hard hits. 1 that stick to mind... The fish hit so hard my rod instantly bent in half. The fish took off down stream and once again, I lost it. I managed to get a few nice trout on nymphs though. Then back at the home pool, fish were rising everywhere. Some small flys were coming off. They appeared to be Mahogany spinners (Iso's??? Possibly, but these were extremely small) Midges were coming off as well as various sulphers. I managed 1 Brown on a size 16 sulpher and he fout for quite some time.
The water temps at Hale Eddy were 42 in the AM and 52 in the afternoon. The average temps at the Home pool were between 52 and 54.
All in all, my weekend of fishing was spectacular.
