Flows: 97 cfs
Water Temp: 46F @ 8:30a.
Water clarity: 6’
Air Temp: 27 @ 8a – 75 @ 4:30p.
Hatches: Morning midge– then again at 3:30p until I left at 4:30p. Tricos 11a. BWOs early to mid-afternoon.
A mule deer making his way across the river.
It was a cold 27F start to the day in Deckers when I arrived at 8a. Brian was just walking back to his car at the time I pulled into the parking area where we had agreed to meet. He was getting his dry fly set-up as fish were rising in the Mini-canyon. That was definitely a good sign.
I took my time getting ready. The sun hadn’t made it over the mountain top yet – so the canyon was too cold for fishing for me. Once I was geared up I killed some time around the water at the Between the Islands Run. Just checking the water to see if I could spot any fish activity and looking to see what was hatching.
When I decided to go ahead and tie my flies on my fingers had that familiar winter numbness and I struggled to tie on my midge nymphs. Part way into it the sun began to shine down into the canyon. What a difference – it’s amazing how quickly things warmed up once the sun hit.
There wasn’t any fish activity that I could see during this whole time, but decided to wade out into the fast water to see what it looked like. Once I got there I could see that there was a bunch of moss growing through the entire run. So I didn’t even venture a cast into it – rather I walked back out and headed into the mini- canyon where Brian was fishing.
Heading into the Mini-canyon.
The steep walls in the Mini-canyon kept the sun from shining on the water making it look black and inky - and rendering it impossible to sight fish. But I have fished this place so many times before that I knew where the fish liked to hang out. I was about mid-canyon and drifted my flies into the tail end of the faster water. As I normally do – I started out with a small split shot. But after a few casts it looked like my flies were too high in the water. So I added a little mud – some extra weight. And then on my second cast after that adjustment I had a fish on.
The end of the Mini-canyon just as the sun is about to hit the water.
He took the fly at the end of the drift – “on the lift”. This is where the flies drift to the surface imitating the emergence of a pupa. It’s also tough to get a good hook set as the natural progression is to lift the line getting ready to recast. So the fish usually hook themselves rather than the fisherman setting the hook. So this one got off after a brief fight.
A few minutes later Brian had a nice rainbow on. It made a nice jump out of the water and was putting up a good fight. So I set my fly rod down and walked over to see if I could help net him – which I did. And it was a nice catch – a 17” healthy rainbow. A good way to start the day!
Brian with a 17" rainbow.
Not long after that I hooked up rainbow. He also made a big jump out of the water and looked almost identical to the one Brian caught. But he got off. Ugh! As time went on we caught a few small brownies in the 7” to 8” range and few in 12’ to 14’ range.
When the sun finally shown into the canyon we could finally do some sight fishing. And there were some nice size ones feeding about ¾ of the way into the canyon in front of some submerged boulders. I spent some time trying to get at least one of them – but wasn’t able to. None the less we ended up staying in the Mini-canyon the whole morning.
After lunch we decided to head down river to Fisherman’s Run. We had both switched our flies to imitate baetis and there was a hatch in progress when we started toward the run. But as we approached the river we spotted a bunch of trout feeding at the Horse Creek inlet. The water was very shallow and crystal clear and getting them to take without spooking them would be a challenge. I did end up spooking most of them but was able to get one – a nice 15” brownie.
At the same time Brian had moved into Fisherman’s Run and was able to get a couple rainbows to take but they broke off. The fish were few and far between so we decided to head up river into Ray’s Run. There is a lot of pocket water and small seams that make up perfect feeding lies for the fish.
Ray's Run. The sun hitting surface moss made it look like lilly paddys in the water.
We waded into the water about mid-river where it becomes more shallow and casted back toward the bank into the pockets and seams. I could see a couple of fish and casted to them. Sometimes it’s difficult to get your flies in front of the fish because of the way the water flows. If you’re a little to the right or left they drift entirely off target.
I couldn’t get the first fish to take but the second one did. It was a nice 15” brownie. Brian also got one about the same size. This is my kind of fishing. I like the faster water and the challenge of hunting for fish. As I moved upstream I spotted fish rising in the shallow water near the head of the run.
One of the brownies.
It’s always fun to catch trout on dry flies. Sometimes – I’d say most times – you can see the fish as they rise to the surface to take the fly. Other times you don’t see anything till the fish hit it. In both instances it’s pretty exciting. So much so that the tendency is to set the hook too quickly – and miss the fish. To be successful, you need to wait a bit – best case until the fish moves back under the surface – to set the hook.
So needless to say we waded up to see if we could get a couple. It was later in the afternoon – about 3:30p and there was a hatch in progress. But I think we mistook it for baetis – when it was the afternoon midge hatch. I say that because we had baetis flies on and didn’t get any takes. Even on casts that were on target.
During this effort a mule deer decided to cross the river within about 20 feet of Brian. It was a sight to see that’s for sure.
This spot will now be known as The Deer Crossing at Ray’s Run!
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