Metolius

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the Cascades of Oregon.  Nice spring weather and lots of sunshine (well, until it started pouring rain).  I was luck to have decided to take the day off from research and fish the Metolius.

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.