Browns in the Rain

The forecast today called for a high in the mid 40s and scattered showers. That sounded like good fishing weather to me, so I decided to make a trip over to a tributary of the Kinni.

I arrived around 10 AM and started fishing under the bridge where I parked. There's a deep hole under the bridge, and I've found that the fish like to pod up there in the winter. Despite the warm temperatures, there was still a fair amount of ice around the edges of the pool, so I was limited in where I could cast. I started out with a yellow version of the Salter Fly I posted a few weeks back, stripping it slowly near the bottom. It wasn't long before I felt a tug and pulled in the first brown of the day.

I saw a few fish spook after I caught the first fish, so I decided to move to a new spot. Farther upstream there is a side channel about 100 yards long arising from a spring. At the head of the spring is a deep pool where I've had good luck in the past. I switched to a pink squirrel with a balloon indicator and began casting to the edges of the pool.

The spring is at the end of the channel on the right

On the second cast I saw the indicator go under and I pulled in what looked at first like a small trout, but turned out to be a chub. I kept fishing, and soon saw the indicator dip again. This time I knew I had something more substantial. It turned out to be the biggest brown of the day.

As I fished the spring the rains came, and soon reached a level I would no longer call a "shower". I was still catching fish though, so I couldn't stop just yet. I pulled in a few more browns, then went back and fished under the bridge to get shelter from the rain. That was enough for me, so I called it a day after catching 7 fish in 2 hours and turned for home.

 

Super Trout Sunday

With cold temperatures on the way for the next few weeks, I decided I needed to get out yesterday. A friend and I left the house around 8 and were on the water by 9.

The action was slow at the first pool we tried, so we decided to move up to a spring-fed backwater where I found some nice fish last winter. My friend tried a couple casts, but he wasn't able to get the distance necessary to reach the fish without spooking them. I decided to give it a shot, and sure enough, I saw a boil and felt a tug on the first cast. I pulled in this nice brown on a variation of the salter fly from my last post.

We tried a little longer but didn't find any more fish in the backwater. Our time was limited, so we decided to try the first pool one more time.

This pool lies under a bridge and it's deep, probably at least 6 feet. Fish tend to pod up here in the winter, so I thought it was worth a second try. At first we found nothing, but then I let my streamer sink all the way to the bottom and inched it along slowly. It wasn't long before I saw a flash and felt a tug. I pulled up and this nice brookie went airborne trying to shake the hook. He was unsuccessful, and I was able to get a quick picture. He had a big head, but the rest of his body was quite skinny - I guess that's just a result of winter fasting?

A few minutes later my friend got this nice brown using the same slow and deep technique. Interestingly, the browns both seemed quite fat for their length, while the brookie was quite skinny.

We were out of time, so we drove home after a quick but satisfying day on the water.