I've said it before, but one of my favorite things about fly fishing is the continuing newness that is involved in every outing. There is always a new adventure to be had, whether it is a new river, new fishing buddies, new fly patterns to fish, or as was the case yesterday, a new species to try to catch.
I have fished the Dream Stream many times in the last couple years, and have learned to enjoy this ever changing river. Every season brings so much change to the stream, with large Rainbows in the spring and monster Browns in the fall pushing into the stream from Eleven Mile reservoir to spawn. The summer months bring outstanding fishing, with so many different hatches occurring, sometimes all in the same day. We headed up to South Park this past weekend, with hopeful optimism of catching the Brown of lifetime. With such low flows (33cfs), the large influx of Brown Trout had not pushed into the river yet, but there were Kokanee Salmon everywhere. Every deep pool had large pods of salmon in them, mostly large males with huge hook jaws. I was super excited to hook and land a few of these crazy looking fish, including a very nice male. With the low flows, it was crazy to watch your flies drift through the pods of Kokanee, with the occasional instinctive reaction to strike. They fought hard, with quick powerful runs and lot of acrobatics. I now see what the draw is for anglers who pursue these fish every fall, running around the state trying to find and catch them. It is a rush to hook salmon, and is so cool that we can do it in our beautiful state.
Just another day in the life of fly fishing junkie, where every time on the water brings a new adventure!!
Nice, always like the photos of the salmon when they are that color.
ReplyDeleteKeep it up.