Sunday, March 14, 2010

NOW it's ON!

After a slow start on Friday, the weekend fishing on the Poudre picked up a few notches.

Saturday was bright, sunny, and warm, seemingly ending a winter that has been far too gloomy for me in almost every respect, weather included. The day started early with a full family run/walk to benefit a local non-profit organization doing some great things for youth.  For the record, and in the interest of full disclosure, I'll admit to being one of the walkers, leaving the heavy lifting to my younger, more fitness-conscious family members.  Plus, I had fishing on my mind from the get go!  No point in wasting precious energy on a run when I was certain to log some hours wading the Poudre.

Upon arriving at the river, I got excited to see fishing coming to the surface.  While there appeared to be many small fish sucking an undetermined hatch off the water, I noticed a few very aggressive strikes, including a couple nice fish that actually launched into the the air.  I tried to see what might be on the surface, and did my best to match the small bugs I saw.  The best I could come up with was a small BWO, which proved to do the trick.  I spent the day on a relatively small stretch of water, rediscovering the fun of setting the hook to the quick flashes over the fly.   A small Renegade also drew the attention of one really nice trout, which I hooked briefly before losing the fly, thanks to a knot that was poorly and hastily tied in my excitement.

Today was more of the same, although the temperature was considerably lower and the fish were rising to the surface with less regularity.  After a couple of small trout landed on another BWO, the surface action stopped and I switched over to a cream-colored stonefly nymph with a small split shot.  Several fish hit on the nymph, and I ended the weekend hooking up with a chunky rainbow that finally managed to manuever its way off the hook.

Looks like a fun season ahead.  Gotta remember the camera, though!

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