This past weekend’s fishing outing was arduous: 15 hours door-to-door, very few rises, and not much fish activity.

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I tightlined a favorite run and landed a few browns and a brookie on a size 18 Pheasant Tail and a small Sulphur nymph, about which I wrote previously here. Then, nothing. I tried blind casting dries at this pool and at others and wasn’t able to entice any reaction. The water was clear, and I didn’t see any fish movement or flashing in response to various dries.

Mid-day, I tweaked my back and decided to go for a sit-down lunch to reassess my situation and to the rest a bit. I don’t normally drink soda, but an ice-cold Coca Cola most definitely was a pause that refreshes.

I kept plugging away with dries and just couldn’t make it happen. So, I took a walk and explored some new areas. At one particular stretch, the water went from light to dark and the surface bubbles slowed down. I guessed there was a trench there.

I put on a jig streamer and immediately got a nice rainbow and a newly-stocked brown. Further down, I found the same: two fish at a side-seam of a very long run.

After a long day, I decided to call it quits and visited the packy when I was near home. I don’t have any pictures of big, clean browns because I didn’t see any this time. But, I will be back.

Fly fishing is funny in a few ways, one of which is you never know what you’re going to find at the river. Some days are productive while others are a grind. Either way, it’s fun to be out and to learn.

Let’s hope for more rising fish soon!