Floating in the Fall

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DUBBN

Floating in the Fall

Post by DUBBN » Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:44 pm

Wow, what a gorgeous day to be floating the river. Low temps were in the high 40's, and the high was mid 60's. My buddy and I decided to get on the river late today. We started floating at 10:00 AM. The trip started off bad. I realized I had left my landing net on the beach at the put in point after a mile on the river. Too late to go back. Gonna miss that net. I am drinking a Coors Original as I type to the memory of that net. ;)

Anyway, I only managed 4 trout in the first three hours of the float. This Rainbow was the second fish caught. He may go 15 inches, but I would say 14 for sure. It's tough to take pics in a raft when you dont have a net...

Image

After lunch, and another mile or two of frustration I came across a hole that was maybe 25 yards long, and maybe 5 to 10 yards wide. The fish were attacking some little Blue Duns on the water. They weren't sipping, they were attacking like they were chasing caddis. I hadnt seen any caddis, but I wasnt really sure. I put on the first Muskrat I could find. It was a big size 10 Muskrat. I dropped an October Caddis off that, and I dropped a size 22 RS2 Emerger from the Caddis.

I made a down and across cast to the risers closest to me. Nothing. I tried maybe ten more casts with the same result. I maneuvered directly across from the risers and threw some drag free drifts. Still nothing. Weird thing was, I didn’t put down any of the fish. They just kept on rising. They weren’t big fish, but they weren’t anchovies either. I would say most were in the 14 inch range. Yes, I know. Put a dry fly on! I hate fishing dry’s. Really I do. Call me weird, and most people do, but if I had to resort to throwing dry’s to catch fish on a regular basis I would give up fly fishing.

Well, the fish weren’t taking unweighted flymphs, so the next step was to add weight, and go subsurface. I added a split shot above my ginormous Muskrat. I made a small cast toward the run. The cast ended up about 3 feet short of the target in about 3 feet of fast broken water. I saw the flies start to descend and just as they were about a foot under the surface, I watched a very nice Brown slash at them. I set the hook and felt him tug. He went airborne, and spit the rig out. I cast right back to the same area and nailed his little brother. Took the Muskrat. I stopped right there, maneuvered to the bottom of the hole and started working my way back up. There were a lot of trout in the fast water, and some good sized ones. I landed maybe 4 in that run.

That was the ticket for the next few hours. Find some smaller fish rising and fish the faster water next to them with Softhackles and tiny emergers. I had a blast hooking fish. About an hour before we were done the action came to a halt. I think every fish in that river was rising taking those stupid little Blue Duns. Guess what I did? I actually put on a dry fly. A little size 18 heavily hackled, Wingless Adams. I tied a few, years ago when I thought I might want to be a dry fly purist snob. They were still in my box with some Griffith Gnats. I saw a big pod working the hatch near the bank. I was near the middle of the river. I got within casting distance. I noticed the feeding trout were suspended just inches beneath the surface. I made a pretty darn good cast to the edge of the pod. Nothing. I worked the edge of the pod with maybe a dozen casts with zero results. They were still feeding. I made a long cast in front of their hole in the faster water, and let the dry float into the hole. It wasn’t in there long before this Brown SMACKED it.

Image
I had to take a pic….First fish on a dry in years!

My buddy and I worked that pod for an hour. I bet we each managed a half dozen. All were Browns except for an 18 inch Bow I got. After the action died in the pod, it seems it died in the entire river. The hatch was over.. I put one of Hanks Partridge and Mole on, and trailed a small Emerger off that. I nailed another 2 or 3 fish between the pod and the takeout point. They all took the Partridge and Mole.

I had a great day. It started off tough, but a couple puzzle pieces fell into place and the day was awesome!
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Ron Eagle Elk
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Re: Floating in the Fall

Post by Ron Eagle Elk » Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:43 pm

Those are some nice looking fish. Fall fishing is the best!! No two ways about it. My favorite fish, Sea Run Cutthroat, make their way into our local rivers from the salt. They are a superb fish, and just beautiful.
"A man may smile and bid you hale yet curse you to the devil, but when a good dog wags his tail he is always on the level"
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Re: Floating in the Fall

Post by Mataura mayfly » Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:46 pm

Neat report on a great day. Nice photos to add to the fun.
Tying on that #10 must have been like tying on a Muskie fly for you? :lol:

So which net did you loose? I guess that you did go back to check it wasn't still laying there.
"Listen to the sound of the river and you will get a trout".... Irish proverb.
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hankaye
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Re: Floating in the Fall

Post by hankaye » Sun Oct 07, 2012 12:02 am

Dubbn, Howdy;

Great 'Fishin' Story ... :D
Now all your friends can berath easy as the 'Tattle-Tail'
is gone ( :cry: rip...)
Where was all dem fish last week !?!?!?!? :lol: :lol:

hank
Striving for a less complicated life since 1949...
"Every day I beat my own previous record for number
of consecutive days I've stayed alive." George Carlin
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tie2fish
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Re: Floating in the Fall

Post by tie2fish » Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:16 am

Wonderful report!
Some of the same morons who throw their trash around in National parks also vote. That alone would explain the state of American politics. ~ John Gierach, "Still Life with Brook Trout"
DUBBN

Re: Floating in the Fall

Post by DUBBN » Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:26 am

Heck Ron, I have never seen the sea let alone caught a Searun trout. It's on my bucketlist though. I caught quite a few fish bigger than the two pictures, but it really is kinda stressfull to the trout to take a pic of larger fish when you are by yourself in a raft. They flop terribly.

You know Hank, The Fork fished just like the Gunnison did for you and I. I am betting we needed to fish the broken water there aswell. Hate to tell you this now over a week later but the best broken water on that stretch of the Gunnison is from the Russian Olive I showed you down to the confluence. Yep, 50 yards from where we parked the truck. :oops:

Mataura. I only had one net :( Yes, I went back.

It took a few hours to get over losing that net. There was sentimental value to it for me aswell.
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hankaye
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Re: Floating in the Fall

Post by hankaye » Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:36 am

DUBBN, Howdy;

No problem, they were just bein' fish ...
They were they wanted to be that day, not
where we wanted them to be that's all ...
Still one of the bestest days of my life !!!

hank & Rascal (wooof)
Striving for a less complicated life since 1949...
"Every day I beat my own previous record for number
of consecutive days I've stayed alive." George Carlin
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Re: Floating in the Fall

Post by letumgo » Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:04 pm

Another day in Paradise! You're one lucky dude, Wayne. I am happy for you. Beautiful trout.
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Ron Eagle Elk
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Re: Floating in the Fall

Post by Ron Eagle Elk » Sun Oct 07, 2012 7:51 pm

Dubbn,

You get up this way in late September or October and I'll see to it you get at least one type of Sea Run Trout. We usually fish for the SR Cutthroat with a 6 weight rod because the possibility of hooking up with a winter run steelhead is so high. Feeling the tug of a steelhead can be quite exciting, when your expecting the hit of a Sea Run Cutthroat.

This is a typical Sea Run Cutthroat that's been in from the salt for a week or so. Starting to get the fresh water coloring back.


Image
"A man may smile and bid you hale yet curse you to the devil, but when a good dog wags his tail he is always on the level"
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hankaye
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Re: Floating in the Fall

Post by hankaye » Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:05 pm

REE, Howdy;

Beautiful fish, fits your hand nicely.

hank
Striving for a less complicated life since 1949...
"Every day I beat my own previous record for number
of consecutive days I've stayed alive." George Carlin
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