Hello all and thanks for checking in at The O’Grady Fly Fishing Adventures. During my guide trip today I had a little time to think about how my fishing has changed over the years, and today’s trip seemed to wrap these changes in the proverbial nutshell.
Before taking clients out on the water,
I typically contact them ahead of time to isolate what their goals are for the
trip. The gentlemen I had the pleasure of guiding today, Curt and Mitch, were
pretty new to fly fishing and really wanted today to be a learning trip and
weren’t highly concerned with the number or size of fish. And yes....as any
honest guide would tell you... those are definitely our favorite types of trips.
So to the water we went and after a short period of time Mitch began to notice fish
rising all around him. I switched his rig and after landing four fish, he was
floating on cloud-nine. With Mitch satisfied and smiling, I turned my attention
to Curtis. After we worked out a few bugs, (no pun intended) we watched a big
red stripe move into the feeding lane in front of us. First cast was a foul
ball, but the second was a homerun. The battle was fierce and then an
absolutely gorgeous 20.5 inch bow was landed. Now this was the only fish that
Curtis landed today, but if you’re only going to land one make it count. Much
like a photograph being worth a thousand words, sometimes a trophy fish is
worth a hundred dinks.
So how did today fit my fishing career
to a “T” While landing medium fish on the surface brought my client great joy,
his eyes changed from delight to longing after seeing his friend’s big catch,
and a fire was lit inside him to land his own monster. I remember when the fire
caught inside myself. It’s been a few years since I landed that first toad, but
it sure made catching huge numbers of smaller fish a little less exciting. The
rumor circles that long time “pig hunters” like myself, eventually go back to
enjoying every fish that has been properly tricked and played. I would have to
say that I have found myself enjoying every fish a little more this year. The
rumor is slowly becoming fact for me. I have thrown more dry flies over the
last month than I think I have thrown over the last five years put together,
and have been enjoying every minute of it.
I fished a little on Saturday and
found myself tossing dries to sippers most of the day. Fishing has not been in
the easy category the last few trips out. During the hatches, fish seem to be
moving into really slow water and are getting a ton of time to look at the
flies which also gives them the option to be picky. As the main hatch begins to
ebb, I have managed to get a couple of nice fish to the net in quicker water.
Once again, I must be a better guide than a fisherman, my best fish on Saturday
was just a tad over nineteen. The FOD nymph and the Thorax BWO dry have been
the flies producing the best as of late.
As always, Connell, Cat,
Winston and The Drift Fly Shop want to thank you for reading…..
A few from Saturday..
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