On The Rise

I was able to do a little fishing tonight just before dark, from about 7:45-9:00. The stream was pretty much back to its normal flows and clarity. Seeing how high the water got was pretty amazing. There was no surface activity and I didn’t notice many flies outside of the occasional caddis. I ended up catching three (two browns, one brookie) and missing a couple more on a pheasant tail nymph — not a bad night.

We had a late start this morning but fished the Rush from about 9:00 to 11:00. Dad found a few fish rising to tricos and  he caught one on a trico spinner pattern while I caught four brookies and missed two browns on a pheasant tail nymph and zebra midge combo — my go-to rig as of late which I’ve done well on. The water was very clear and the fishing was most productive in shaded areas.

Dad and I fished the Rush this morning from about 7:30 to 10:30. Tricos were in the air when we arrived. After hiking a ways downstream and not seeing any risers, I decided to go with the pheasant tail (size 16) and zebra midge (20) combo that worked well yesterday. I ended up catching five browns and three brookies — with probably half taking each fly — and missing a handful more. They seemed to be all over the runs this morning, and hitting every little spot was key in catching fish.

Dad decided to hike further downstream from me and ran into some fish rising to tricos. He caught two browns using a size 20 trico spinner pattern. We both had a great morning.

UPDATE: I tried to do some night fishing and hit the Rush again from about 8:00 to 10:45 pm. I didn’t have any luck mousing, but caught one brookie and lost a nice 13-14″ brown while nymphing just before dark.

I hit the Rush this morning from about 8:00 to 10:00. I hiked quite a ways downstream of the bridge and saw my first tricos of the year in one spot. There was a pretty good swarm of them but no rising. In another spot I saw one small rise, so I tossed it the caddis I had on from the other night, and two casts later I had a 7″ brookie to hand. I fished my way back upstream to the car using a pheasant tail nymph with a zebra midge, anxious to get to a run I had good luck nymphing earlier this spring. Any spot a novice nympher like myself can catch fish in must be pretty good!

I finally made my way to the run and soon had a 10″ brown to hand on the zebra midge. I worked my way up the run, trying to hit every spot that could hold fish multiple times. A nice 8-point buck came out for a drink less than 10 yards from me, which got me excited to get to the farm and hang some trail cameras. As I made my way to the top of the run, I cast to a great looking seam and saw my indicator plunge underwater. I set the hook, but assumed it was a snag. Soon the snag came to life and I saw the flash of a trout. He held tight to the bottom, putting a pretty good bend into my Limit Creek Fly Rod, and I stumbled downstream to try to work him out of the run. A couple minutes later I had him in the net and he measured at 17 inches, my best Rush fish to date! I figured that would be a great way to end the outing and I headed back to the car.

 

We hit the Rush this morning with our friend Donnie. The stream was still a little cloudy from the recent rains but definitely fishable. A few caddis were coming off at about 10:30, but there was very little surface activity. The fishing was slow but we ended up each catching one — Donnie and Aric’s on black zebra midges, and mine on a caddis.