I headed up to a favorite East slope stream for Baetis Fest ’08.
Friday night was a bit rainy, but not too bad. As I accessed the river, I enjoyed some of the color of the season.
The rain apparently got to this raptor. I can’t tell what kind of eagle, falcon or hawk this is, my best guess is a young golden eagle, but I can’t be sure. He was pretty close, drying his feathers off for fifteen minutes or so before taking flight. When he did take off, he was pretty good sized, which makes me think eagle. Any ideas from you folks?
It rained on and off and there was indeed a very nice baetis (BWO) hatch. The trout were sipping the duns off the surface in the slowest water imaginable. LOTS of actively rising fish, but it was tough to get them to take, as the fly, the drifts and the presentation had to be spot-on. It was almost like fishing a spring creek, like Hat or Silver Creek in Idaho. Refusal city. Some of them were genuine lunkers, but they were even more wary than average, it seemed. I lost a few to break-offs or carelessness, but I did manage this nice ‘bow.
And this one, a bit later
The largest one, I’d guess around 16”, took off before I could get a photo. There were a few others landed, but they were similar to the ones I photographed already. Not huge numbers of fish, but very engrossing fishing and the hours rolled by quickly.
That night (Saturday) it rained in buckets and the wind blew in gusts strong enough to shake my rig that I was sleeping in…or trying to, anyway. I woke up to some nice views, like this powdered covered peak.
Unfortunately, the downpours from the night before turned the river into a mocha-colored mess, which it is prone to do. After a bit of thought and searching, I found this local creek that had
some visibility, I’d guess around 18” or so.
As luck would have it, the trout were not on the bite, but it was nice to recon a stream I can hit in the summer. A cool place with lots of angling potential.
As I headed back over the hill, I drove out to a local lake to see if anything was happening, perhaps a midge match or the like. On the way into the lake, I admired the snow-covered aspens.
The snow got deeper and deeper as I neared the lake, and I started to get a bit concerned, when I finally arrived. No hatch, but plenty of snow and a beautiful view. Nothing like the silence of the woods during a snowfall. Echoes of Robert Frost.
Saturday was good, and since I foolishly trusted the word of the weather forecasters, I thought Sunday would be as well. Oh well, live and learn. Still, I had a good time and there’s always Baetis Fest 2009 to look forward to!
Cheers!
--FlyGuy (Dave)
Favoured: 0
