May 10, 2019

Windy But Good

I went to a local mountain spring creek yesterday for a couple of hours. Unlike most spring creeks that I have fished, this creek is small and courses its way through a tight canyon.



There are browns in this creek, most in the 8-10 inch range. They are usually quite cooperative, but yesterday they were more elusive than I've seen them before. Maybe it was me and my lame presentations. Maybe it was the bright sun overhead. I don't know.




But it was the wind that was the biggest challenge. The valley down below had 50 mile per hour gusts, but in the trees up in the canyon it was just somewhat blustery. I shortened my line and tippet to make casting more precise and worked my way upstream.





I was able to pick up a few beautiful fish using a #10 soft hackle grey. The water in this creek is like most spring creeks, very stable in flow and temperature, and is very clear. But unlike most spring creeks, the flow is moderately high gradient making fishing this water more like fishing a freestone than a spring creek.




Yes, I was frustrated by the wind, but hey, it was fishing. And that changes frustrating conditions into a good day!









3 comments:

  1. Great post, i'm very jealous!

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  2. Tom, nice group of browns. The last one is really impressive.

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  3. These blog post are so great, I am up in Rexburg at school and am new to fly fishing in southeast Idaho, do you have any advice on what to look for in small streams like this here in Idaho to get a clue if they hold trout enough to make them worth fishing?

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