Summer Solstice at the FRC

One tradition we try to always keep is to celebrate the longest day of the year with a fishing trip. Usually we meet somewhere in the afternoon, fish till dark, then fish a little bit more, then promise to remember to bring our headlamps next year so we can see walking back to the car. This year, we avoided that and met in the early am at the FRC. Rob said he'd be there about 7:30, so I planned accordingly, then got a text from him at 7:00 that he was there. I was going to complain, but then realized that as long as it takes him to get his rods set up and flies tied on (plural for him even when singular due to his double vision), he'd still be on the bank by the time I arrived.

It was a beautiful morning, little wind for most of it despite the forecast, but the fish were not as cooperative as our last visit. We started pulling buggers/leeches. I had one to the net quickly and a couple more strikes, Tom and Rob had a few strikes but no hookups. It was pretty slow.

All mine were cookie cutter twins of this one

There were some midges flying around, but not a lot of surface action from the fish. With the buggers slow, I decided to fish Tom's Snowcone Chewy Chironomid with a size 20 midge trailing it, right on the bottom (17 ft down). I promptly had a couple more fish and several strikes, then nothing more. And that was the way the morning went. Along the way Tom and Rob both hooked and landed a beast of a fish for each.

Tom pulling a beast from his cartoon net...

Tom's fish came unhooked while he was netting it, but swam away so slowly that
Tom got the net back under him before it could get away

I ended with seven to the net, all "little" guys, 18" to 19" long, fat and feisty. A couple on a size 10 or 12 thin black leech, one on Tom's chewy chirono (black, size 12) and the rest on the gray, size 20 midge. Not the non-stop action of a small stream, but a decent morning with some big fish. With summer here, we'll be looking more to moving water for the next few months.

Rob's big one - is that a trout, or a pig with fins?

"On the way home" from work...

With Father's Day upcoming, I asked my wife if I could have an early Father's Day present and stop at a favorite local stream on the way home from work. She said yes, and so I went. Evening sun, bugs on the water, fish rising everywhere, it was about as good as it gets. Left work at 16:30, was in the water at 18:10, and had my first fish (plural) about ten seconds later. Yup, it was a double.

Fished double psycho, size 14 on top, size 18 below most of the evening. Although the psychos did their job, the most popular "fly" was the red strike indicator, with one or two swirls on it almost every cast for much of the evening. After about the tenth fish to hand, a local appeared out of the grass at the top of the run I was in and started fishing. He had a fly rod, but I think I was up to a couple dozen before I saw him land one fish (the only one I saw). He fished down towards me, walking in the shallow side where I normally catch a lot of fish. He got to me and we chatted a bit. He had what looked like a mosquito, fishing it wet. I showed him the pyscho, talked to him a little about the caddis, offered him one, which was declined, and then he continued downstream. Not the most skilled fisherman, but it was good to see someone tossing flies instead of drowning worms. His fishing didn't seem to hurt anything, as I ended up getting 54 out of the first long run, including a number right where he had walked.

Typical rainbow for the evening

With so many hits on the strike indicator, I briefly tried a dry dropper with an elk hair caddis up top, but there was nary a swirl on the caddis, and my size 18 dropper wasn't getting down without the heavier fly above, so I went back to the double psycho for the rest of the evening. Those familiar with this stretch of river know that it flattens, shallows, and spreads above the first run, and the fishing slowed a bit as I worked my way up through, still finding fish regularly, but not so frequently.

Back to the psycho

It was looking to be a typical evening fishing this quarter mile stretch, finding about 75 fish or so. As the sun was setting, I got to the last few holes, which are often hit or miss; tonight they were a home run! Fish everywhere, consistently at the larger end of the size range for the evening (8" to 10"). I quickly broke 100 and they were still coming in the fading light. As I was approaching the visibility limit with my sunglasses (I always forget to carry my regular glasses along to fish a little longer in the low light), I needed one more to arrive at a nice, prime number. Second cast into the last run, the indicator went down and I reached my goal. Tally for the evening - 113 to hand, about 20 percent at the small end (5" to 6"), 25 to 30 percent at the high end (8" to 10"), the rest in the middle. Every one of them on the psycho (well, I'm pretty sure I flossed one on the indicator, but besides that, every one...). I love that fly. I love that river. Happy Father's Day!

Last light on a nice little rainbow