Lower Poudre, 7/2/10

My 2nd trip to the Poudre, post run-off, resulted in five rainbows totaling a combined whopping 30 inches of fish.  I hesitate to even call two of them fish at this point, as they were scarcely any bigger than the flies I was throwing at them.  The biggest was probably 10 inches, but at least put up a good fight.   It was the first fish, however, that gave me a good laugh.

It generally happens to me once every season - the accidental catch.  I suppose I should be thankful, but something about a fish jumping onto your fly and holding on while you're not paying attention really humbles the ego and makes you wonder if anything you're doing the rest of the time really works at all.

I'd just arrived at the river and was struggling to wade upstream through some thick vegetation and deep water along the bank.  My line was in the water, the fly sitting in the current behind me.  As I tried to keep my footing, I felt a little resistance on the rod, but didn't think anything of it.  Having finally gotten to the point where I wanted to stop and begin casting, I set my feet and raised the rod tip for my first cast.  Much to my surprise, I pulled on the rod and found a six inch trout trying desperately to free itself from a Gold Stonefly nymph just slightly smaller than the fish itself. 

Some fly fisherman, huh?  

I can't say that any pattern was any more effective than another.  I caught the remaining four fish on a San Juan Worm, a Pheasant Tail nymph, a Prince nymph, and a green scud.  The interesting thing was that each fish was caught on the first presentation of a new fly, which leads me to believe that they are generally hitting on pretty much any bug offered up right now. 

The river itself is beautiful, dropping a bit each day and settling in after a month of rapid fluctuation in volume.  I'm anticipating some great fishing for the remainder of the summer.