Chapter 58 Day 20 - Trout Season

Dependability

It wasn't too long ago I asked Carol why in the world she married me?  Was it because she found me charming, charitable with my meager funds, or just simply drop-dead good-looking? 

Carol... doesn't mince her words and quickly informed me she married me for none of the reasons I mentioned, but, rather for the fact I was dependable and she knew she could always count on me. 

In our fly fishing lives there are certain fly patterns that we usually know we can always count on to produce.  That's dependability. 

Yesterday morning on the river Blue at 9:30 a.m. it was 65 degrees.  This morning on the river at 9:30 a.m. it was 45 degrees with a noticeable breeze and a little mist.  Since the Prince Nymph did so well yesterday I tied him on again went to the exact same spot as yesterday.  Today however, it was a totally different story.  I don't know if the trout got wise to ol' Princey boy or what, but, he couldn't have bribed a fish today. 

After giving him ten or so runs the decision to go to plan B was put into effect.  Some of the patterns that I've always been able to count on are the Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail, and the venerable Bugger.  The Bugger went on and the fish started coming my way. 

There are still a lot of campers at Blue River, but, the crowds on the water were much thinner today.  I didn't have long to stay because of things to be done at the prairie home. 

On the way in to the river this morning I saw two deer hunters dragging a deer from the woods.  Guess their day was made.  It is hunting season at Blue and there were probably a half dozen hunters in the woods on the road going in. 

On the way back to the prairie home I got to shoot some deer of my own.  Shot em' with a Fuji Finepix.



The Bugger Bombed

Image via Wikipedia

Today on the river Blue, the venerable Woolly Bugger bombed.  At least for me.  I was fishing those tandem rigs I use with the bugger being the lead or deeper column fly.  The first trailer I used was a hot bodied soft hackle and this puppy took several bows.  The bugger took none.

Then came the Partridge and Orange and this pattern also took a couple of bows, but the bugger bombed.  Then the Crackleback came and same results - trout on the Crackleback... bugger feeling like an outcast.  The Hare's Ear steps up to the plate and the bows liked it... poor bugger. 

I sent the bugger to the dug-out and told him to get his crap together.  Put the beadhead Hare's Ear on the mound and this pattern was fairly popular.  Next, a size 18 Flashback Pheasant Tail and this proved to be the hottest pattern of the morning fishing a fairly slow hole. 

Not to be outdone by the trout however, I call the bugger back and send him downstream from the crossing and finally he finds a couple of bows.  But... for the most part the bugger bombed today.

These fish are really stacked up.  If you can get a pool where they are you'll have a banner day.  I watched a couple of fly-fishers fish the same pool that Donny Carter did on Wednesday and Larry Horton fished yesterday.  I bet they caught 50 trout in a row.  It was ridiculous... but fun I bet.

Fly Of The Week

The Flashback Pheasant Tail

Without a doubt this is a favorite pattern of the fly-angler on Blue River. Personally, it is one of my top five flies to use in battling bows.

It's an easy tie consisting of pheasant tail fibers, fine copper wire ribbing, peachock herl, and flashback material, along with black thread.

The Flashback is a variation on the classic pattern and the only thing different is the flashback material itself. Pearl is best because it simulates trapped air or gas bubbles but I've had good success using green flashback material.

It's best fished drifted either alone or as a trailer. Beadhead offerings in this pattern have become quite popular to get the fly down in water column. Often it is also necessary to add split to get the fly down quickly.

First Bows Of The Season

Since last Thursday, I've went on and come off of vacation three times now. It really sucks I have to tell you. Saturday, Miss Carol and I laid plans to be on Blue River this morning with a great degree of ease. You see Miss Carol knew that Laura Adams would be there and I knew that Chris would also be there. Since the girls only get to see each other several times a year, it was crucial (to Miss Carol) that we make this trip. Besides that, I wanted to fish with Chris since he and I have been fishing together at Blue since the year 2000.

But later yesterday afternoon another problem arose at my workplace and instead of sleeping in a little later I found myself having to get up at the standard time of 4:30 a.m. to go to the workplace. You know what...Miss Carol went with me to lend a hand so we could get done in short order and get to the river. What a girl.

At 10 a.m. I hopped out of the Prairie Schooner at the crossing and sent a message with Miss Carol telling Chris to come to the Flats below the Island. The message was delivered and as the girls started their friendship circle, Chris was gearing up to meet at the Flats.




Now, to the fishing part of this. I was most surprised that the river hadn't cleared more than it had on Monday morning. Don't get me wrong...Blue is trying to clear but still has a ways to go. At the Flats the fringes had a good ten inches or so of visibility, but five or six feet out into the pool the visibility dropped to just a couple of inches.

For my first fly I stuck with my now proven theory that brown patterns work in dingy brown water and I chose a size 12 conehead brown bugger with a slightly lighter brown hackle. On my third cast I had my first strike but no hook-set. I would get three more strikes without hook-sets before I finally would find a bow.

I learned two things quickly about these Monday morning bows. They wanted the color brown and they wouldn't accept anything less than an almost perfect dead drift...even though it was a bugger. On this morning, you could forget the down and across with a swing thing, and you could forget about all the combinations of strips that can be employed. The bows wanted a dead drift period. At first I started with a straight across cast and high-sticked that sucker and that presentation worked until I wore it out. Then it was time to cast across and slightly upstream and mend like crazy. I can't emphasize the mending part of this too much. It was mend, mend, mend, and get the drift where the bugger is going at the same speed of the water. Eleven trout later, I lost that bugger to a rock fish. Going to the fly box I saw I had only one more and decided to save that for another dingy day.

Next came a size 18 Flashback Pheasant Tail and yes I had to use a damn strike indicator with this little sucker. I'm still resisting strike indicators even though I know the dadgum things work and they worked today taking three more bows.

Meanwhile I noticed Chris changing flies a lot. Come to find out Chris decided to make this a pattern day. If he tied on a pattern and it didn't produce shortly he would change it. If he tied on a pattern and caught one bow...well he change to another pattern. In other words...Chris was having fun and he caught the bows today also.

The wading today was tough with the off-colored water and swifter current. Chris finally broke out his wading staff and I found myself wanting and wishing for one. I settled for a tree branch I found along the fringes. However, I want to point out for reference that once the sun was positioned overhead the visibility improved quite a bit. So, in future cases where the river is off-colored, the time of day and sun position is something we might want to consider.

Long story even shorter is that baring any rain, and none is expected, Lady Blue should be in excellent condition by this weekend for all you casters of fur and feather.

I'm back off vacation for two days it looks like. Hope to go "back on" vacation by Thursday.