Honestly, it was starting to get discouraging.
Every Saturday or Sunday, I have been getting up early to be on the water before dawn. My goal? Intersect a robust Trico hatch and spinner fall.
At long last, the stars aligned this past weekend, and I saw quite a few gulpers feasting on fallen bugs. It was a joy to see clouds of bugs float over my head and descend to the water.
The fishing was still tough, and I lost some big fish on 7x. But, it was amazing to see so many trouts rising steadily and lazily eat. And, I caught more than I would have anticipated.
The action was so awesome that I went back the next day to the same spot…and, there were few Tricos. The weather seemed the same, at least, to me. No wind. A little more cloud cover, though. The Tricos decided to play elsewhere. Bug hatches are so tough to predict.
Every time I landed a decent fish, I decided to clip off and re-tie. It really helped, as I didn’t lose any fish the second day.
It was a lot of driving on Labor Day weekend. It’s about four-and-half hours in the car to fish five hours. But, it’s worth it for me. If you see oodles of fish rise to Tricos, you’ll know what I mean.
The best fish was about 17″ and surged four times. Thankfully, my knots held. Best wishes to all….
28’s!! Do you carry flies with the tippets pre-attached? Nice to have good eyes! LOL
Congratulations. I saw a few spinners on the water last week but was fishing a rainy afternoon.
Thanks, Steve. No, I just gut it out. 7x is pretty thin, and I tie the flies on “big eye” hooks. Hope you’re well….
And, do you use any sort of strike indicator or larger second fly so you can track your tiny fly in the water?
No. Adding a big dry as a tandem partner hasn’t worked for me, for some reason.
If at first you don’t succeed…. Way to keep after it! I’m glad you were rewarded for your perseverance.