Current Article

Holiday BWO Assault Begins. Underground Forgets Camera.

Overcast skies, drippy weather, low flows, and a free pass for the afternoon. What’s that spell?

BWOs, my friends. BWOs.

Camera-Free Zone

Chris Raine and I drove to one of our BWO runs, fired up our bamboo rods, waded into the river, and discovered I’d left my camera in the truck.

That was a blow; the Underground is all about enjoying the visual aspect of the fly fishing experience as well as the verbal.

Because I spare no expense in bringing my readers quality online fly fishing entertainment, I engaged an artist to render the epic battle between myself and the first fish I hooked, who jumped twice and easily went 18″.

rendition
This artist’s rendering illustrates my epic battle with an 18″ fish. Note the trout’s bright colors.

Sadly, after two long runs and a lot of fly line through the guides, the hook came loose when he was a rod’s length away.

The next fish was a beautiful, strawberry-striped 14″ rainbow that ate a #18 BWO emerger, and after landing him, removing the hook and releasing him, my stinging hands needed a good five minutes to warm up.

The delay wasn’t a problem. The BWOs were coming off well, but few fish rose to meet them. I hooked three of the four fish I covered, with the first and last both in the 18″ range. Sadly, only the smaller of the three stunk up my net.

The conditions were encouraging. There just weren’t enough fish.

Providing a little relief to us aging fly fishers and our fading eyesight was bump in size; the bugs have grown from the #22 of late Fall to the #18 we’re seeing now.

Fly drawing

The Hot Fly? My #18 brown-olive emerger with brown poly trailing shuck and white poly wing.

With the Holidays upon us, expect more cutting-edge fly fishing reportage - from the online’s most-sophisticated provider of the genre. See you at the drawing board, Tom Chandler.

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

6 Comment(s)

  1. Ed | Dec 24, 2006 | Reply

    This is awesome, and one of the reasons yours is the best site around. Hilarious. I am disappointed, however, that such an experienced angler can’t tell the difference between an 18 inch fish and a 16 inch fish.

  2. pseudososa | Dec 24, 2006 | Reply

    Ed,
    Tom most certainly can tell the difference between a 16 inch fish and an 18 inch fish. If I catch it, it’s 16. If HE catches it, it’s 18.
    Empirical wisdom.

  3. Alistair | Dec 25, 2006 | Reply

    Hang on, is that high heels you are wearing ?

    Alistair

  4. tom | Dec 25, 2006 | Reply

    Cameras are for sissies!

    (Merry Christmas, by the way!)

  5. Ed | Dec 25, 2006 | Reply

    Don’t be silly, high heels on the river? Those are obviously the new Orvis Orthopedic Lightweight Studded Riverguide Model ™ wading boots. You need a doctor’s prescription to get ‘em, but the good news is most health plans will pay for up to 20% of the $689 price tag.

  6. Tom Chandler | Dec 26, 2006 | Reply

    Laugh it up, but the immense level of artistic talent I’m displaying here is yet another step in my drive to build a Fly Fishing Media Empire.

    Soon - after I’ve taken over the major fly fishing magazines and bent them to the service of the Trout Underground blog - you few trouble makers will rue the day you made sport of me.

    Rue it.

    I will reign supreme.

Post a Comment

  • Underground Commerce

  • Underground Google

  • Under the Underground

  • Our Affiliates

    Sierra Trading Post

    Click, shop, and help pay our costs. Thanks!

  • Not Finished Yet