I had been hoping to find rising fish, but found none despite a decent hatch. I was able to catch a nice rainbow and whitefish while nymphing, but was really hoping for rising fish. Mayfly after mayfly drifted downstream, but none of the fish bothered to take them off the surface. I waited until the hatch started to die down and decided to head elsewhere on the river.
After the short drive, I searched some of the usual haunts that have rising fish. I couldn't find any fish and I couldn't find any bugs. I sat and watched for a few minutes and thought I saw a ripple caused by a fish. It looked like a fish had taken something just beneath the surface. I figured I was seeing what I was hoping to see and not what was actually happening, but I kept an eye on the spot. A couple minutes later, I had confirmation that it was a rising trout when I saw his nose just barely break the surface to take a bug off the top of the water. That was it, I finally had a rising fish. It looked like a small fish, but a rising fish is a rising fish. After several attempts, I was empty handed and hadn't seen another rise. So, I decided to give him a rest and nymph a nearby run.
On my second cast with the nymph, I hooked into what felt like a nice fish. After about 20 seconds, the hook came free. I tried several more casts, but no luck. So, I went back to the bank and looked for my rising fish again. I didn't see him rising, but I decided to throw a few more casts. Nothing.
I was just about to head out, when I saw a large caddis fluttering on the surface near where I had seen the fish rising earlier. After a few dips on the surface, the caddis disappeared inside the large mouth of a trout who left a large swirl. This wasn't the small fish I had thought I'd seen. I put on a caddis and mad the cast with my hear racing. I anticipated the rise, but it never came. So, I twitched the fly. Nothing. (Someone needs to create a fly with flapping wings.) I changed flies and tried again. On the third cast I saw the trout slowly swim up and confidently take my fly.
I set the hook and realized this was a really nice fish. At first he seemed to be fin just thrashing his head back in forth. I was okay with this, since I wasn't sure how much the 5x tippet and 3 weight rod could handle. After a short fight, he decided he'd had enough of me and swam across the river and well downstream. I ran after him, trying to keep good pressure on him, but not breaking him off. I finally had him beat and got him in the net after a few failed attempts (it was hard to fit him in the net, so it was a struggle). I finally had my rising fish for the day, and what a fish.
Sometimes it's good to be patient and observe what's going on around you.
Sorry, the camerawoman had to work, so the picture isn't great. Here's a picture of the rainbow I caught nymphing earlier in the day.
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