Early Black Fishday

With Tom unavailable this year for our annual Black Fishday event, we decided to meet a couple weeks early for our annual, post-Thanksgiving magic (pre-Thanksgiving this year). The fish didn't care that we were a little early. In fact, they seemed to be happy to greet us. October caddis jig with a soft hackle under an indicator. Black bugger swung. Lots of fish. The pictures tell the story of the day - big rainbows; lots of them.

Beautiful color on the males

Another 20-incher...

In an unusual turn of events, I was up on Tom 5 fish to 1 early in the day. I caught one in a nice hole for swinging on the bugger. We traded rods so he could swing, and I promptly caught another behind him with the caddis. The next run up, I had finished drifting the caddis through the bottom of the run, turned my back and started walking upstream with the indicator swinging across the current. I felt a tug and turned to see a 22-inch rainbow jump clear out of the water. To catch more fish than Tom, you generally have to be lucky.

He eventually caught up, and bested my biggest with a 22-1/2 inch beauty.

Nicely done, Tom. That fish is a beast!

At the end of the day, we had about 30 fish to hand between the two of us. My tally on size for the ones I measured was 22, 21, four 20s, 19, 18, 17, four 15s, and a 14 (all in inches). I just couldn't find one that was 16! Tom had a similar range of sizes.

What was perhaps the fish of the day we never saw. Near the end of the day, Tom hooked one that raced downstream taking him to the backing before diving into the grass bank and breaking off. Never saw the fish, just the large wake. Hopefully that one will be around next year even a little bigger...

Always kiss the fish and tell them thank you...

Red Rock and Pink Rod

I was visiting Rob at his home in St. George, Utah for some late season red-rock hiking and we managed to fit in a trip to a nearby creek for some small Bonneville cutthroat.

Shirtsleeve weather in November

This little stream is really brushy with dipping and the bow and arrow cast being used extensively.

In many places it's hard to walk upstream, let alone get the fly on the water

The banks showed evidence of heavy flooding from rain the previous week (water level two or three feet above the normally tiny flow) which may have impacted the fish, but we still found enough to keep us happy.

A likely run...

...produces a nice fish

I was using a borrowed, bright pink rod that Rob got for his wife. As long as I have a rod in my hands, I don't care about the color. 

Favorite cast of the day - a tree was completely overhanging a nice run along a red rock wall, so I cast on top the wall where the tree didn't quite reach, the line and fly slid off the wall, under the tree, and down into the stream, where the fly was promptly inhaled by a little cutt.

Rob trying to replicate my off-the-wall casting magic

Any day you can catch fish is a good day. Catching fish and climbing over red rock makes an awesome day!