Quick morning on the water and a few flies

OK, so I am jumping the timeline a bit by starting off with a fish picture but it was a helluva good looking trutta!

With a few things shifting around at work lately I was left with a second shift to work today (currently working strenuously as you can see) so I did what any self respecting fish junky would do and planned a quick run to the river to start my day. The alarm chimed at 4:30a and I was out the door to pick up my buddy Mariano and head off to chuck some streamers and do a little recon for a few hours. As we were headed down the highway it started to lighten up, revealing a high layer of thin clouds and a gorgeous morning. This sunrise was the backdrop against which we put on our waders. It was a hell of a nice start to the day!

The river is still high and ripping fast, but we decided to give it a go. Started off a bit slow, or maybe we were just rusty with our presentations, but about an hour in this feisty fish went after a sizeable fly and came to hand. Despite being about the same size as the streamers I throw I had a smile on my face and sweet stink on my hands. The obligatory 'picture of the first fish of the day' was taken to appease the fish gods and make it less likely they would rain down a fishless hell on us the rest of the morning.

No monsters were landed but we had a few solid fish come out to play over the course of the day. Here is a shot of Mariano with a thick fish that just hammered the streamer with a vengance. It taped out at just shy of 16" but the current sure made it feel like a pig. As we got ever closer to the time we had set that we had to leave to get to work the fishing got progressively better. With a lot of fish coming out, swiping, rolling and slashing at flies it was very hard to leave; good thing I am headed back out tomorrow...

Things on the fly front have continued to be very busy. Lately I have been tying a lot of the same patterns so I have not been shooting a whole lot of pictures, but here are some flies that went out a few days ago.

Finished up tying last night with a pair of custom flies for my box that I posted shots of to Facebook. They are basically Conrad Sculpins on steroids. The top one is my favorite brown trout chasing color of yellow with a topping of barred tan and a white belly, and the bottom is a shot at a chub so it is peach with a topping of burnt tan and black and a belly of white. Both flies have a few rubber legs thrown in, to add some vibration in the high water I was expecting today, and a little Laser Dub gill action behind the razor cut head. They fished awesome today though only the Chub made it home...the other ventured a little too close to some submerged cover in a spot I would not wade in to at 500cfs let alone 750cfs.

Hope to have some more shots both of fish and flies to post by the end of the weekend!

-mike schmidt
www.anglerschoiceflies.com