Ahead of a cold front and several days of rain, I was able to get back out to my trout stream in Washington County for a few hours. I wasn't expecting too much action as the state had not stocked this area for some time, and it was a popular pressured section situated in a public park.
There were already about half-dozen fisherman scattered about, and the water was a little higher and more turbid than normal. I was pleasantly surprised when I hooked a small fish within the first dozen drifts. It took my heavier point fly that was a lighter tan color body that I had tied after the last trip. After landing, my line was considerably tangled in the net, and around the stinger I now had the fish connected to. I had to cut loose my flies and retie them to get everything untangled.
Continuing down the run a bit, I hooked a second trout, but halfway through the fight he broke loose, and I suspect it was due to a bad knot I tied. My eyes aren't what they used to be and when the light is low and overcast sometimes my bifocal fishing glasses make it difficult. Anyway, I was optimistic that I had two fish on in a short amount of time.
As I continued to fish, more fisherman started to trickle in as the weather cleared up a bit. I only saw two other fisherman with single trout on the stringer, and none of them were using fly gear. I spotted a lone tenkara fisherman as well, but I didn't observe him fighting any fish either before he moved off. I made my way up into the better and deeper areas and felt a fish on one of my drifts. I missed him but kept trying that area until I felt the same bumps and this time hooked up on a little bigger rainbow, landing him without much trouble.
After a while, I had a third fish on in the fast flow. Fighting for a few seconds he eventually pulled loose the fly and was gone. Bummer. This time it just wasn't hooked solidly enough, so I felt a little better than the one I lost due to a poor knot.
By this time, I had to pack up soon to go to a music recital my son was involved in, so I headed back downstream again. Still trying to tweak my gear and learn this style, I had a few times where I saw a trout flash sideways after my flies but never detected or felt the strike. I believe that I may have had too much tippet between my sighter section and that allowed more bow in the line preventing me from a close contact to feel those strikes. Next time I will shorten up the tippet for that depth and see if it makes a difference.
looking back on the trip it was a success, as I had hooked 4 trout, had at least two other strikes, and came away with 2 for the pan. I learned a bit and was excited to go back and try for the couple I left back there.
Back at home I examined the stomach contents of the fish I had caught. Both fish had been in the river a while and their flesh started to turn "salmon" pink from the white when they are stocked. This indicates a diet high on insects. They had been feeding heavily on aquatic sow bugs as seen in this photo:
That Sunday, I decided to try my hand at tying some imitations and scud pattern to mimic those for the next trip. I am excited to try back with these in my arsenal along with some shorter tippit / leader combinations after these next several days of cooler and wetter weather.
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