Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mother's Day Trout

Mother's Day and I 'cutt'-n-run around 2 pm to fish the Snoqualmie. This weekend has been unseasonably sunny and warm. Temperatures reached 80 in North Bend this afternoon. I gauged water temperatures at 50-even. Water flows were picking up as warm temperatures are melting the remaining snows in the upper elevations of the Cascades.
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Note that I successfully last fished the Middle Fork earlier this week on May 7th as water levels hit median daily averages. Today I wanted to test the waters as they started to spike again with spring run-off. I found the river easily wadeable at today's slightly elevated levels. The wind was gusting upstream but was manageable.

With limited time I returned to my favorite fishing hole, and made my way downstream, casting my new Winston 5 wt and the best-ever flyline from Orvis (more on that another time). I used a Copper John and Blue Winged Olive Emerger team in a nice pool just away from the rapids. Plenty of submerged boulders and riffles on the surface. The water looked trout-ish even if there were no risers.

A very aggressive cutthroat took the BWO Emerger, which trailed the Copper John, and fought very nicely working first to the right and then to the left. The fish had nice coloring and was easily 10-inches, a nice cutthroat on this river.

Yesterday I purchased a sweet little Brodin trout net from Orvis. I had struggled in my early flyfishing experience to get the time I needed to examine the fish, photograph the fish and safely return the fish so I bought this net to facilitate the whole process. Turns out you buy the net and then a magnet-clip combo so that it attaches to your "D" ring on the pack or vest. Who know what "D" refers to but it's the ring on the back of your flyfishing vest. This whole combo makes it easy for you to carry and cast with the net then simply pluck it from your pack or vest when needed.

I also bought a cheap Fugi underwater digital camera, which I carry around my neck to improve my fish photos.. I am still the world's worst fish photographer, but at least I got photos this time.

When will I have so much equipment hanging from my neck that I simply topple over into the cold stream?



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