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?