Sunday, Bloody Sunday!





portal to south

I had family visiting all week. It was the first time this summer my wading boots completely dried out. I finally got a chance to fish Sunday afternoon but only for 4 or 5 hours. I spent most of my time driving and then river walking. The actual fishing time seemed minimal. I checked out a tailwater river south of where I live. There was a lot of traffic on the road and smoke on the southern horizon. I thought there must he fires in Montana, Idaho or BC. Haying was going on in the fields. Hawks were perched on bales. As I drove through what I call the Portal to the South, grasshoppers hit my windshield. Things looked promising.



haying

When I arrived at the river I checked out a spot near where I park. I often get a response from a fish there. On my second or third cast a large rainbow chased my grasshopper a short distance then gave up. I casted back to the spot where I initially raised it and he surfaced again and took it. After the initial run he seemed to get lazy. I eased up and well, he got off. That was the only fish all afternoon that came up for a large terrestrial pattern.

I hiked downstream a distance and like a hawk perched on a high point: a bluff. I spotted a buttery coloured trout occasionally rising to PMDs in the gentle flow of a side channel just up from where it entered a deep and sizable pool. I watched this soft section for awhile and figured out an angling strategy before dropping down the 20 foot bank well upstream of the fish. I then circled behind it. Everything was going well when an Oarsman in a blue raft with two anglers (possibly friends but more likely clients) called out from a distance that he was "coming through". I glanced back over my left shoulder and told him to go behind me as I was on to a good fish. He yelled, "what do you want me to do...I'm coming through here!" Shortly after I looked back again and the raft was almost on me. I reacted quickly and waded out of the way. As they drifted by I said, " thanks a lot, now my fish is gone". He said that he had no option. I said he did "have an option". I told him that they could have simply got out of the raft in the 1 foot deep water just upstream of me and walked/guided it behind me at the head of the pool. Then they could have jump back in and resumed their float. He said he "didn't want to do that" and I replied "no kidding, instead you pushed me off the water I was fishing". By then the raft was in the deep pool just below me and drifting away. The oarsman ended the discussion with,"F-You". Surprisingly I did not return the F-Word ( I must be maturing). The two anglers with him said nothing the whole time.




side channel

 bluff, main flow and side channel

I waited awhile, saw no fish and decided to use the adrenaline pumping through me to hike further downstream. The next pool had people fishing it and so I walked further. The pool after that, my favourite spotting pool on the river, also had people on it plus the ominous blue raft. I checked my watch and thought this was going to be a tough day. I started thinking about applying for Russian citizenship and moving to Kamchatka: good fishing, few people...

I headed back upstream. I returned to the pool I was on earlier and went through the same routine: sitting and surveying from the bluff. I spotted an impressive rainbow sipping on PMD's just below where I saw the other fish...again in the soft flow. It was swaying back and forth in order to get a consistent meal. When I dropped down to fish it I spooked the buttery trout I saw earlier. It was just 10 feet away a little higher in the side channel. I had failed to spot it while watching the other fish feed. I fished to the rainbow with a size 18 PMD tied parachute style. After several casts I hooked up and he turned and went straight downstream at a bonefish pace and kept going. It was fun to watch. He jumped at the tail of the deep pool. Fish are like people, some simply have more spirit than others. He was a good one. I had him on for some time and kept pressuring him, and then slack. The hook came out.



side channel soft water and main flow in foreground

Soon it was time to head back to my car. All the pools upstream had anglers in them. I have never seen the river this crowded; usually I see nobody. There were three fellows in wet suits doing some sort of stream analysis...maybe biologists. There was a family pick-nicking on the bank. There were several trucks parked on ranch land next to the river.

Although I didn't take the river temperature it was cool. The flow was typical for August. The water clearer than I have experienced in the past. It was perfect water for sight fishing. I spotted several large fishing feeding on PMD's in a back eddy along a cliff wall that I had no chance of fishing without a boat or repelling gear. Grasshoppers casted nearby drew no attention. PMD's were the main bug and all the fish I saw feeding (surface) were on them. There were many grasshoppers along the banks but with no wind I saw none in the water. I saw some flying ants.

Although it was a tough afternoon it was good to get my wading boots wet again. If I go back it won't be on Sunday, Bloody Sunday! It will be mid week.