I just walked into the house after a day on an alpine stream, and I’m drinking a beer and hammering a watermelon that was picked at exactly the right time. This, my friends, is living…
We're back from a place we might visit again...
The stream was high and the mosquitoes were so aggressive I was afraid that Wayne Eng — who’s so skinny he always looks to be in the midst of his own personal famine — might be drained of blood to the point he’d lose consciousness and I’d have to carry him back to the truck.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
What did happen was that many brown trout were caught on dry flies, making this the first wildly good day of the season for me.
I’m chalking it up as a victory.
More to come on this one.
See you receiving a blood transfusion, Tom Chandler.
Beautiful photo. Great news about the trout. Still no joy down here in big river land.
Kentucky Jim(Quote)
Bummer. Everything up here is now wholly fishable. We really dodged a runoff bullet.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Lovely just back from my own weekend on smaller waters nothing like it for the soul….. we had more bows and brookies than browns
Marty(Quote)
I’d love to get a few brookies on water like this, but it’s unlikely to happen.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
small stream + beer + watermelon = summertime
Looks like a beautiful day over there in Cali. Glad you had a nice day on the water.
Ben
AZWanderings(Quote)
The mini-hopper worked fine, though after I found a couple of big brown drakes in the bushes, went to a #10 March Brown catskill style and did pretty well on that — and a skinny humpy (which worked better after it’d been chewed a little).
Tom Chandler(Quote)
this is why i subscribe to this blog
stu(Quote)
Been a long winter for both of us then…
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Just wondering on your dries, are they similar to what we would use here in that situation.Here we would use small f flies and a tiny grey and black for small hatches.
ronnie(Quote)
I found a #10 brown drake in the bushes, so I fished a couple of #10 dries. Small stuff is pretty hard to see on that broken water.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Shirt sleever day with dry fly water. Niiiice.
DarrellKuni(Quote)
Well, not if you like retaining your blood supply; the weather was perfect but we were covered up like Ninjas to keep the Skeeters at bay.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
I see. If Wayno is like me, a tasty Asian man, he attracts biters. Hello hydrocortisone.
My other nicknames are No-See-Um and/or Mosquito Magnet, and Deer Flies R Me.
DarrellKuni(Quote)
Ahhhhh, back to the secret waters! Glad you and Wayne stuck a few!
Jim T.(Quote)
When are you coming up to try some new secret waters?
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Nothing beats small stream fishing. I just went out yesterday for a few hours with 7 ft 4 weight fiberglass rod paired with a Martin tuna can. Small streams and simple gear. Doesn’t get any better….except for maybe the beer and watermelon.
David(Quote)
I believe you’re correct. Some interesting gear stuff came out of this one (it’ll be in the report).
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Great read on small stream fly fishing by Tom Rosenbauer. Check out Orvis Guide to Small Stream Fly Fishing!
Jim(Quote)
Tom,
I look forward to the report. It is always interesting to me what gear others use on small streams. On big water most seem to use 9 foot 5 or 6 weights but on smaller waters the rod choices seem to become much more personal. I really dig that.
David(Quote)