Post by gui on May 10, 2020 11:20:38 GMT -6
With only a few weeks left before "your life will never be the same" (we become a family of three) and a serious need to get out of the house, I decided to do the 6-hours drive day trip on Friday. I had pondered if this was a good idea given the current situation. With the park open to fishing and the current status of our stay at home order, a day trip with no stops along the way seemed reasonable.
As I was going to leave the house, Madhavi came out of the bedroom and asked me if she could join, which was a nice surprise
.
A great opportunity for us to enjoy this moment together, while still just the "two of us".
We made it to the park a bit before 9 AM and headed our way down the trail to the lower Spillway.
Madhavi with a book in her hand this time, and me with my euro stick.
We were happy to find an uncrowded spot where we felt confortable to do our things at a safe social distance.
I started prospecting with my go-to two nymph rig, which is a tungsten Hare's ear variant with rubber legs at the point and a small red Copper John at the dropper. The water was looking great, with a little bit of tint just like you want and a lot of bug activity.
Within a few minutes, I got into what felt like a pretty good fish. After two failed netting attempts, the third one was not a charm, unfortunately.
When you're standing on your toes with your arm fully extended and your rod tip pointing all the way back up in the air trying to net a fish, you should know that you are doing something wrong.
Yet, I did it three times. Too bad, because it was a solid brown...
Still, what a nice start of the day!
Besides a few creek chubs here and there, it was quiet for a bit. Then comes a good hit while I'm prospecting some deeper waters. I'm well connected and... another brown comes to the surface!
This time she makes it to the net and Madhavi is right there to snap a few shots of a beautiful and well-conditioned LMF brown.
Amazing. This is just what I needed.
I fished a bit more around the area where Madhavi was reading her book. I had a quick LDR at some point on what felt like a really good fish and a yellowish flash had me thinking:
"Wait a minute, could this have been another brown or am I just fantasizing?!"
Past experience and the odds of hooking three good browns in a row convinced me of the latter one.
It was then time to take a break and have a picnic together.
The park is beautiful right now in its springtime shades of green and we felt very fortunate to be able to take it all in. Madhavi then went back to the car to take a nap and I headed back to the Spillway.
The next couple of hours were going to defy what I thought were the "odds".
First, to my greater surprise, the four fish that I brought to the net were good size browns.
Second, I got a good look at the two other fish that I hooked but did not manage to net, and they were also good size browns!
Finally, I actually caught my last fish TWICE within only five minutes, and it was a good size brown!
I mean, what are the odds?!
These fish were looking fantastic and while not very large by the overall LMF fish population standards, they were "good size" per my own standards and definitely larger than the 8-10 inch brownies that I was catching in the same waters last time in January.
I think that these January fish were some of the established brown trout from the fingerling program. Could these be the same fish that have already put on 3-4 inches in length? Or pre-flood browns? In fact, I even wondered if these had not been recently stocked...
Anyway, here are some pics that make me think that these look too good to be recent stockers.
I caught the last fish at the beginning of one of my favorite Spillway runs.
As I watch him swim off, I continue to fish the rest of the run.
About 15 feet upstream from where I caught him, I get a good hit and I'm delighted to bring another beautifully marked LMFR brown trout to the net.
It's only hours later while looking at the pictures that I realize that my last two fish share the same dot patterns and are actually... the same fish!
The first time he hit the dropper and the second time he went from the anchor fly. A great opportunity to admire again his beautiful complexion.
It's a first for me, and quite amazing given the fact that so far, for me at least, these fish have been quite elusive and harder to catch.
Sometimes, maybe the conditions were "just right".
All you can do is take notes and hope that you found a pattern.
Tight lines and stay safe everyone!
As I was going to leave the house, Madhavi came out of the bedroom and asked me if she could join, which was a nice surprise
. A great opportunity for us to enjoy this moment together, while still just the "two of us".
We made it to the park a bit before 9 AM and headed our way down the trail to the lower Spillway.
Madhavi with a book in her hand this time, and me with my euro stick.
We were happy to find an uncrowded spot where we felt confortable to do our things at a safe social distance.
I started prospecting with my go-to two nymph rig, which is a tungsten Hare's ear variant with rubber legs at the point and a small red Copper John at the dropper. The water was looking great, with a little bit of tint just like you want and a lot of bug activity.
Within a few minutes, I got into what felt like a pretty good fish. After two failed netting attempts, the third one was not a charm, unfortunately.
When you're standing on your toes with your arm fully extended and your rod tip pointing all the way back up in the air trying to net a fish, you should know that you are doing something wrong.
Yet, I did it three times. Too bad, because it was a solid brown...
Still, what a nice start of the day!
Besides a few creek chubs here and there, it was quiet for a bit. Then comes a good hit while I'm prospecting some deeper waters. I'm well connected and... another brown comes to the surface!
This time she makes it to the net and Madhavi is right there to snap a few shots of a beautiful and well-conditioned LMF brown.
Amazing. This is just what I needed.
I fished a bit more around the area where Madhavi was reading her book. I had a quick LDR at some point on what felt like a really good fish and a yellowish flash had me thinking:
"Wait a minute, could this have been another brown or am I just fantasizing?!"
Past experience and the odds of hooking three good browns in a row convinced me of the latter one.
It was then time to take a break and have a picnic together.
The park is beautiful right now in its springtime shades of green and we felt very fortunate to be able to take it all in. Madhavi then went back to the car to take a nap and I headed back to the Spillway.
The next couple of hours were going to defy what I thought were the "odds".
First, to my greater surprise, the four fish that I brought to the net were good size browns.
Second, I got a good look at the two other fish that I hooked but did not manage to net, and they were also good size browns!
Finally, I actually caught my last fish TWICE within only five minutes, and it was a good size brown!
I mean, what are the odds?!
These fish were looking fantastic and while not very large by the overall LMF fish population standards, they were "good size" per my own standards and definitely larger than the 8-10 inch brownies that I was catching in the same waters last time in January.
I think that these January fish were some of the established brown trout from the fingerling program. Could these be the same fish that have already put on 3-4 inches in length? Or pre-flood browns? In fact, I even wondered if these had not been recently stocked...
Anyway, here are some pics that make me think that these look too good to be recent stockers.
I caught the last fish at the beginning of one of my favorite Spillway runs.
As I watch him swim off, I continue to fish the rest of the run.
About 15 feet upstream from where I caught him, I get a good hit and I'm delighted to bring another beautifully marked LMFR brown trout to the net.
It's only hours later while looking at the pictures that I realize that my last two fish share the same dot patterns and are actually... the same fish!
The first time he hit the dropper and the second time he went from the anchor fly. A great opportunity to admire again his beautiful complexion.
It's a first for me, and quite amazing given the fact that so far, for me at least, these fish have been quite elusive and harder to catch.
Sometimes, maybe the conditions were "just right".
All you can do is take notes and hope that you found a pattern.
Tight lines and stay safe everyone!
