Agony & Ecstasy

I headed out this afternoon to the North and the Middle Forks of the Snoqualmie. The weather is cloudy and cool in the morning and then magnificent in the afternoon starting around 1 pm.

The North Fork is at about 130 cfs and the Middle Fork is about 410 cfs. They are nicely wadeable now.

Not much to report on the North Fork. I hooked a couple of small cutthroat and rainbows but landed none.

The real story is the Middle Fork. After a lackluster experience on the North Fork I drove a short distance to my favorite spot on the Middle and caught a very pretty 12" Rainbow on a Stimulator quickly. I cast a short distance into the seam of a run and the fish hit it pretty good. 

I spent the next hour wading downstream and not catching anything. The shadows were growing on the far-side of the stream so I waded out into some bolders and cast a good distance out into a narrow part of the stream beneath some trees. I was using a dry fly when I saw the biggest trout I've ever seen in this river leap from the water to try and nail my fly. I would say the fish was 15-16" and fat. 

I cast a couple more times when I saw the fly disappear and the line tighten. I knew the fish was heavy because the flyline actually burned my finger.  I striped it in a few times but lost the fish. I think I fought rather than simply raising the rod and letting the fish hook itself a little better. Good fish-finding but poor technique on my part. I really regretted missing this one.

But it was a great day on the river.