A Satisfying Day

Any day fishing is satisfying, but some are more so than others. Today was the first day of low water on my favorite river in a long time. The masses already know that the water is off and there were plenty of people on the water. Thankfully I was still able to find places to fish.

My first stop was enough to get me excited. I hooked and landed an 18 inch fish within the first 5 minutes of fishing a deep run. Unfortunately, this quick start did not lead to a spectacular day of catching fish. I checked several other spots that I always enjoy fishing and finally ended up at my favorite spot. Rarely do I make a trip to the river without stopping there and today was no exception.

I fished for awhile and was thinking about leaving. About that time another fly fisher stopped by to chat and asked if I had a stream thermometer. I did indeed and while I checked the water temp, we chatted about fishing and bamboo fly rods. After determining the water temperature to be 59 degrees, I started back up the river. Suddenly I saw a rise...and then another...and a few minutes later another. Three rises is definitely not very many but enough to convince me to try a dry/dropper. My first fish came to a zebra midge so I dropped that beneath a Parachute Adams.

Moving upstream, I began stalking a nice riser. The brown would rise leisurely but regularly. Instead of spooking when I put my flies over it, the fish just slowly worked its way up the river. I kept following for around 50 feet and finally I stopped to carefully observe the fish. The next rise convinced me that the fish was taking adults from the surface instead of pupa just beneath or in the film. Out came the box of dries and I searched through my midge selection for one of my favorite patterns from this past summer. Quickly I cut off the zebra midge and then tied on the #22 midge dry. After adding some floatant, I started casting again.

A few casts later my timing coincided with the rise of the fish, and I was attached to a healthy brown. After fighting and landing this 15 inch fish, I took a few moments to enjoy the beauty of the day and savor the satisfaction of solving a difficult fish. Compared to some fish I've caught, I really didn't fish very long for it, only about 30 minutes. However there is very little that is as satisfying as solving a difficult riser, especially when the solution involves a tiny dry fly.

I caught a few more fish on the dry. Every fish that rose consistently would eventually eat my midge pattern. Overall it was a great day on the water, and I enjoyed the late day dry fly action.

In a couple of days I'm headed to the Smokies for a night or two of camping and of course some fishing. Additionally, I have some other articles that I need to finish and should be up in the next day or two. Check back often during the next week as I should be able to fish quite a bit over the break.