Sunday was windy and colder as a cold front approaches. I had the chance to head out back to the bigger creek where the stockers are. I knew the DNR had put a couple bigger ones in there with rumors of 26 plus inch fish. I also knew on a Sunday it would be busy and hoped the weather would hold back a few.
When I got there, there were fisherman lining the bank so I went on the opposite side and found an area away from my competition. I immediately caught a small rainbow on the midge, but was having trouble getting deep enough with the slightly swollen currents and the wind. I lost a fly to the trees when my deep spot opened up, and I went back across the river to it.
I started to catch a few fish and was working on my 5 fish limit, but it was going slow. I did have a slightly bigger fish at 13 inches. Then I saw a guy wading in the spot I just left. He was tight lining as well and I watched him pull in one fish after another! He caught like 8 fish in 15 minutes (he was releasing them all) and I had been there for about an hour with only 3 fish. That was humbling, but I was still doing better than all the spin folks I could see. Humbling though for sure.
Finally, I switched to a chartreuse heavy mop fly on the point to get down and I nailed a 14 inch rainbow which gave me a great fight. I got back into position and lost my dropper midge on a rock, so I only had the garish green mop fly on now. I think that let me get a bit deeper perhaps, but I nice fish was hooked! This thing had a paddle for tail! It was a fight. At this point no one was around, so I fought him well and got him landed with heart pounding. I snapped a pic for AI before depositing him in my lunchbox creel. (Maybe I need to get an old school whicker one?). I stopped using a stringer because too many people were seeing me catch stuff and crowding me out LOL. It was a heavy fish! I ended up getting my last fish for the limit of 5 around hour 2.5.
The big one was weird. It was only 17 ¼ inches long but weighed 3 pounds 7 oz. It didn't qualify as a MD trophy to my surprise. My last fish was 23 inches and didn't weigh that much! It was a football stuffed with eggs.
Well, so much for the AI tech. It said it was 19 plus inches and over 4 pounds... that thing is just not reliable on bigger fish.
This work week is short. I need to pack because after my hockey game Wed night, I get 4 hours sleep and I will be driving to hunt turkey and camp through Saturday morning! I can't wait. Should be a good camp. know my brother will be there with the camper, our friend Jeff, my friend Brent, and fellow Sunset shooter Evan should also arrive. I will have my tipi as not enough time for the wall tent. I can't wait! I quote the great Bocephus, "I need a little time off for bad behavior...I've been too good for too long"!
