Fishing at Girls Camp

I was up at Girls Camp for a few days to help lead hikes, teach some map and compass work, and otherwise relax and have fun being silly. Friday morning, there were no more responsibilities and I was ready for a little fishing. Joined by Trevor Larson, I spent a couple hours in the morning exploring a bit more of Miriam Creek, the small tributary of the NF Tieton that I visited last Saturday. Trevor quickly picked up a couple tiny cutts below the bridge, and I found probably the same 9 1/2" cutt exactly in the same place under the bridge as last Saturday. Just as pretty today.

Nice cutt from under the bridge again

We continued upstream, fishing EHC or similar variants, just something that floats and is visible in the dark shadows under the trees. Usually only one fish in each likely hole. Mostly small, but the occasional larger one. Water was still ice cold, even at the end of July.

Trevor and some likely water in one of the few spots open to the sun

Trevor and another nice cutthroat 

Just before turning around to head back to camp, we came to the hole below. I offered it to Trevor, but he said with the overhanging alder on the left hand side and the log angling right across the middle of the hole that it was above his pay grade. So I back-handed, 3/4-side-armed the fly under the log and got a nice drift along the edge of the current. I watched a nice cutt quickly rise to the fly but he was gone before I could set. No more interest on subsequent casts, so I worked a few casts to the left, then returned to the main problem. Another tricky cast put the fly a couple feet under the log for an almost perfect drift. Trevor commented that you can't get much better than that, but still no love. Next cast was a foot farther under the log and another six inches under to the right, right at the edge of the fast current. I was about to say that you can get better when the fly disappeared in a splash. This time I got the hook in him and brought a beautiful 9 1/2" cutthroat to hand. That is the kind of catch that makes the memories of small-stream fishing much bigger than the fish!

Beautiful fish!