August 2, 2014

Clear, Cold Water

I recently posted a blog entry regarding a trip I took to fish some new waters in Wyoming (see post from July 25, 2014). That trip was mostly successful in that I found a couple of new waters that I had not fished before, that did not have any available information either on-line or in reference books of the region, and that turned out to be populated with moderate sized native cutthroats. That stream I showed was a meadow stream, meandering among willows.

Well, also on that trip I found another stream that seemed pretty good. Unlike that meadow stream, this stream is a mountain stream. It was cold, clear water with a moderate high gradient. It courses over rocks and small boulders as it tumbles out of the mountains. It must have a good amount of spring sources, since all of the snow was dried up. Still, the flow was pretty good. The air temperature was 85 degrees F and the water temperature was 42 degrees F. There were very few clouds and a slight gusting breeze.



I approached the water not knowing what to expect. I had fished many other streams in the same range, only to be disappointed by the lack of trout size and frequency. Also, most of the streams in the area seem to be populated with brook trout -- not my favorite fish to catch. I had no idea what to expect.



I first approached a large eddy pool. The water was so clear that I could easily see the bottom even though the pool (I later found out) was over 6 feet deep. I used the Tenkara Times NEXT 360 5:5 rod with a 10 foot #3 line and 2.5 feet of 5X fluorocarbon tippet. I chose a #12 Red-assed Monkey as my fly. On the third cast I took a 6 inch cutthroat. That was promising. I kept fishing the pool.

A few casts later I hooked into a more substantial fish. He too was native cutthroat and came in at about 13 inches. I was much heartened! All in all, I took 6 fish from the pool. Most were 8 inches but another was about 12 inches.




I worked my way upstream taking some 8-10 inch trout here and there. The water was easy to wade but I had to climb over and under some fallen trees, as well as negotiate the occasional large boulder with its plunge pool.






After a few hours I was tired. I had taken about 15 wild native cutthroats. This was excellent. I'll be back to this stream for sure, as long as I can still get to it!

Here's a quick video; no arrows or ovals.







2 comments:

  1. Nice, Tom. Continue the good job.
    ... Now about the Next 360, have i told about changing its tip sections (sections 1 and 2) for the Try ones??
    It makes the rod tip a bit firmer in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete