Whew, we dodged that bullet.After gearing up we headed up the river and within a short time Sherry caught her first fish of two. I knew it would be a good day if I could find the fly the fish would take because they were rising to my elk hair caddis but just not getting hooked. After several refusals I switched to a may fly imitation and that was just what the fish were looking for. I caught 8 or 9 fish on it over the next few hours which wasn't bad considering that the flows were up from the still melting snow in the local mountains. Since the flows were up, we had to pick and choose from the slower moving water along the banks of the river.
The trail along the river.
Sherry enjoying the day on the water. I call her the fishing bandito.
The trail above the river. You can see how fast it's moving. There's lots of fast moving white water with slower moving water below the riffles. If it was slow enough we could find fish there. The pool to the middle right side of the picture is were I caught freight train fish I'll tell you about in a minute.
Some of the local flowers along the trail side. The flowers are blooming and they made the trip beautiful. The Southern California desert is so dry it's nice when the flowers bloom.
Me working one of the latter sections of water before heading home.
Yes the fish were bigger than this! And I have proof! I was adjusting my hat and Sherry took a picture.
Most of the little guys were in the 5 and 6 in range like this little guy.
But I did manage a couple of bigger fish at the end of the day. This guy was laying low against a wall in deeper water below a small waterfall/riffle. He hit the fly so hard I thought for a moment I had snagged a rock. When my furled line started vibrating in the water as he started the fight, I knew he was a bit bigger than the others I'd caught earlier in the day. I think he might be a wild river born trout from the white tips of his fins.
The hot fly was the may fly imitation but I tied this fly after completing my tying desk and it did a great job catching me the bigger fish today. I took this picture of one I tied. The only difference is that the fly I used had white gills and a tungsten bead under the thorax. I wanted a fly that I could fish deep or shallow, thus the bead.
It was a great day fishing with my best friend. The water level should be lower in the next few weeks so we'll head back again, hopefully being able to fish more sections of the river.
