Blown Out

Normally just a small seam

With a good portion of the state's trout waters being blown out this weekend due to recent rain and snow melt, most fisherman stayed at home to tie flies, went golfing or even worse, laid on the couch watching Fuller House . We took advantage of the nicer weather on Saturday and took a ride to a stream where we've historically done well during high flows in hopes of maybe picking up a few fish and enjoying the decent weather. Despite the stream being 5 times the normal CFS the plan paid of in big dividends.

Tying on my favorite winter pattern

We pulled into the parking area at around 8 am and did the typical scurry to get all of the winter gear on and get to the water as quick as possible. We started out at a couple of holes below the parking area that usually produce fish. Cast after cast resulted in not even a tap. I looked up the hillside to see Ross walking upstream and signaled to him asking if he had better luck than I had, he threw up the goose egg and kept walking up stream. A few fly patterns later I followed suit. I climbed up the hill and over the big boulders just in time to see Ross dropping a buttery brown into his net upstream.

  

I walked over to take a look at him and told Ross he can have the right side of the river up and I'd work the left. I crossed over and beat my way through the thick laurel and down into a nice little pocket. After a few casts I rolled a fish resulting in him blowing up the small pocket. I worked up to the next one and dropped a tuck cast into the zone, a strong dip in my indicator and my day was started.

 

I worked the long stretch of pocket water upstream, each small pocket would produce a few fish before I would wear out my welcome. Any good drift resulted in a take, You would've thought it was spring during a mayfly hatch the way fish were feeding in the pockets. 

I worked my way up to a favorite seam and to my surprise didn't have much luck . Before I moved on I decided to switch over to a size 16 hot spot PT nymph. Within the first few casts I got a strong take and set the hook into some weight. After a few violent head shakes I saw a great fish for this stream running up to the head of the pocket. He had a bright yellow belly and appeared to be thick for his length, The only problem now was... We were separated by class 5 rapids. The one disadvantage of fishing the 10' rod is I was able to reach over the strong rapids and into the seam. I played him for awhile in the seam and had to make a move, I angled the rod tip hard towards the shore and hope for the best. There was a small pocket there I hoped to pull him into. He had other plans. He started swimming hard down stream and out of the pocket. With canoe paddles for fins my 5x stood no chance. He won this time, but I had a lot of fun doing battle with him. I know where he lives now at least. I cut my losses and moved up into huge pool above. I ran into Ross up there and found out he had just as much luck as I did in the pocket water. We already reached far beyond our expectations for the day. We both worked the large pool over from different angles without even a bump. It was strange, the normal Winter holding lies seemed vacant, whereas the pockets were loaded to the gills with fish. 

The type of water that produced all of the days fish

I looked up above and saw some more pocket water that I've never fished before. This is where things really picked up. My first six casts resulted in six pretty little browns. It's been awhile since fishing was that hot for me.

What these fish lack in size they make up for in beauty

Some of the prettier fish you'll see on the east coast

I had to be home for a family dinner so at this point the day was running out. I rounded up Ross and we decided to fish one last hole we both like. As was the pattern of the day, we got skunked in the deep hole and picked up huge numbers of fish in the pockets above it. I finished out the day with 4 pretty fish out of the same run, man was it tough to leave.

It always amazes me this little eye can pick out a size 22 midge in fast water.

Butter

Can't get over the beauty of these fish

It took everything we had, but it was time to leave. We quickly packed up the rods and jetted home so I wasn't late for dinner. On a day when most people would never think of going out we put up around 50 fish between us and lost many more. As long as you are able to do it safely it is worth the time fishing high water most times in my experiece. It was my best day of 2016 so far and hopefully things continue to fish well as the weather warms. Think Grannoms!!