Hey all and thanks for checking in at the O’Grady
Flyfishing Adventures. With the Baseball season quickly approaching this week’s
blog will have a Rockies theme, well actually the opposite.Many years ago, I was
sitting in the Rockies stadium watching the Rocks take on San Fran. Early in
the game Jeff Cirillo hammers a long home run to put the Rocks up by a few. The
next inning, Livan Hernandez, a pitcher walks to the plate with two men on.
Hernandez rakes one just off the dirt and it appeared to be a lazy fly ball,
end of the inning can of corn, but the ball just carried and carried till the
ball landed in the third row. I couldn’t believe the Rockies had just blown a
big lead. Well Cirillo actually hit two more dingers that evening along with
one Rock after another going deep. When the combined team runs exceeded twenty
and even the pitcher was hitting it over the fence, the incredible offense just
felt a little cheap.
The river today was nothing like that summer
evening so long ago. Cat was stuck in the shop most of the day and so the
Winston and I met up with Tino. We got to the water just before one and were
ecstatic to see the redds largely unoccupied. We got into the first run and I
spotted a few fish. I casted a while, but could not turn any. I moved just below
and saw feeding fish(what an incredible sight for sore eyes). I ran it through
a few times with no luck and then changed up the flies. First cast through and
it was hammered, a quick bolt and my line flipped over the reel and hung up on
the knob. After retying I started hooking fish on every second or third cast
and the end result was the same, I would battle for a while and about the time
I felt like I was going to win, the flies would pop loose and come flying back
at me. I figured it was just me and then Tino hooked one on the other side I
watched as he jumped and saw the line actually run through his legs. I think
that fish is still laughing, I know I am.
Well we finally got a few landed and I decided to head down river. I got into one of my favorite runs and hooked three right away. The first was the biggest and after what I thought was a brilliant battle on my part I set up for the scoop. The thrashing white mouth and huge red stripe had finally realized that he had been beat and as I was reaching, the flies popped out, I didn’t really care. A few minutes later I began to watch these three gorgeous red stripes slurping off the top, and I know my readers are going to find this hard to believe but I actually installed a “dry fly” on my line. It took me a few casts to get the right drift and then it happened. The fly was nearing, the nose appeared and the fly disappeared. I almost soiled myself with excitement but kept it together long enough to land my fish of the day, an absolute gorgeous 20inch buck. Well I hooked one more on the top and then the risers had had enough of me and I was thrilled with the day. Cat made it out late in the day just as the feeding frenzy began to ebb. She did get the opportunity to get schooled a few times and then the river just seemed to go quiet. I think I only got a half a dozen or so to the net but they were NOTHING like those balls flying out of The Rockies stadium that night, every fish was earned.
Well we finally got a few landed and I decided to head down river. I got into one of my favorite runs and hooked three right away. The first was the biggest and after what I thought was a brilliant battle on my part I set up for the scoop. The thrashing white mouth and huge red stripe had finally realized that he had been beat and as I was reaching, the flies popped out, I didn’t really care. A few minutes later I began to watch these three gorgeous red stripes slurping off the top, and I know my readers are going to find this hard to believe but I actually installed a “dry fly” on my line. It took me a few casts to get the right drift and then it happened. The fly was nearing, the nose appeared and the fly disappeared. I almost soiled myself with excitement but kept it together long enough to land my fish of the day, an absolute gorgeous 20inch buck. Well I hooked one more on the top and then the risers had had enough of me and I was thrilled with the day. Cat made it out late in the day just as the feeding frenzy began to ebb. She did get the opportunity to get schooled a few times and then the river just seemed to go quiet. I think I only got a half a dozen or so to the net but they were NOTHING like those balls flying out of The Rockies stadium that night, every fish was earned.
It appears that the spawn is finally winding
down and the BWO’s are actually beginning to pop. Fish were actively feeding
for at least two hours this afternoon. Most fish today were landed on the FOD
and the dry was just a plain Adams. With the river holding firm in the 500cfs
range the fish have a little extra fighting power behind them. 5x fluoro seemed
to be work fine. When wading make sure you take extra precautions, the current is stronger at these flow and also redds are very abundant. The river is
quickly taking on my favorite character of the year, no cheap fish and every
fish earned. I took a lot of pics today, but for some reason several came out
blurry, I'm thinking my camera may have still had some hurt feelings from last week, but rest assured my camera got over it. As always, Connell, Cat, Winston, Tino, The
Rockies, and The Drift Fly Shop want to thank you for reading….
****We had a
customer lose a Lamson reel in the Nature Center parking lot.
Nothing ruins a great day of fishing more than losing equipment. If you have
found or know of anyone that has found a Lamson this week please call the shop
and we will get it back to the proper owner, If it is returned I will offer ½ dozen
of my own flies as a reward.
Thanks!
Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment