Two Quick Hitters

45 minutes before work: early morning; cold hands; took a jump back to frozen guides... wow. Mainly wanted to check out another reach that I'd not seen before today. Picked up two browns nymphing at the obligatory starting point: under the road crossing, in the big hole. Same as other places. Too freaking cold, and fish too unremarkable to photograph though.

A few interesting sights... But mostly crappy looking channel that I didn't even bother to fish. Note wide, shallow condition here with no holes. Most of the reach I walked was pretty embedded with fines. Probably won't spend much time at this location. Maybe I'm completely wrong on my take here - looked like ~crap to me though.


45 minutes after work: parked at an access and found these poor bastards gasping for dissolved O2: ~two dozen minnows (crappie variety I think). There are a number of things that are illegal and/or dismaying about this finding: (1) this stream is artificials only - no bait; (2) littering is illegal, last I checked; (3) just a lazy punk ass thing to do.

This stretch offers some better water - had me on some good looks(thanks to restoration work by local chapter). Note narrower channel, faster water, holes, etc. I saw a number of fish that I didn't hook - some biggies too. Mainly I was hoping to see some rising fish - looking for that candy again. Right when I walked up I peeked over the bank and saw a nice little dimple... and I just started giggling to myself as I tied on that BWO pattern used the other day. Straight giddy is what I was there. Alas, that was one of ~3 rises I saw in the 45 minutes. Nothing going. There were bugs in the air, but the fish weren't working them. I think I was too late in the day. I begrudgingly nymphed for a few minutes and hooked and played a really pretty brown of approx 12-13 inches. Leapt clear of the water and ran a bit... great fish. As I was bringing to hand, one last surge put her by a submerged branch - rubbed me off clean and sauntered away. Oh well.

The minnows are out back now - kids had a good time tormenting them a bit. James is a good caretaker - he made sure any that Danny removed from the water were returned intact. Danny, on the other hand - first thing he did was say hishee, hishee over and over... and then stick two in his mouth for consumption (they were removed prior to total ingestion). Not sure what will come of them. Feel free to swing by and grab them if you're into bait fishing. They only person who can't have them is he who abandoned them there at trout stream X with the caption whaddya think of this you got-damn FLY FISHERMEN? hanging the air.