Mmmm.... I love brownies!

We've been in a drought so long, normal amounts of rain make it seem like it will never stop. It's been rainig for what seemed to be non stop, so I took the first opportunity I got with a break in the weather of a couple of days to spend some time in the water. I hit one of my favorite stream West Prong, is a beautiful piece of water that winds it way in and out of long steep drops into large plunge pools, while at the same time has large amounts of pocket water and long large, pools. Spring is slowly turning into late spring, so the trees have most of their leaves and have lost most of their vibrant green. Settling down into the darker color that symbolizes summer and lazy days under shady trees.

This stream can be difficult to wade and although near a road can be quit isolated in many locations. I never catch many fish, but usually what I do is of quality. I love spending time on this stream, although it doesn't have the highest catch rates, it's just beautiful. After a moderate walk down the road, I ducked into the woods and followed trail that petered out into the dense brush. Fighting my way through a this rhododendron hell, I popped out at the river where a small waterfall dropped into a small pool across the creek. I smiled!

I'm on my 3 wt today since it's 9ft. long It allows me to high stick more effectively, and cast into larger pools. I tied up a size 12 yellow EHCaddis and a harey moose(12) as the dropper. It was probably 30 minutes before I was able too hook my first fish. While casting to the back of a decent pool, I noticed a nice fish flash in front of me about 10 or 12 feet. A quick roll cast, and I dropped my combo two feet in front of where I saw the fish. A slow drift and I see the caddis submerge and I set the hook. FIsh on! A determined brown had taken the harey moose and was doing his best to throw the hook. Jumping and darting under rocks, I was able to bring him to hand after a good fight.

I continued up stream thoroughly working each pool and not getting many hits. The ones I did get were all solid and all on the dropper. Not a single fish too the dry, not even a bump. I actually extended my dropper to 3 ft so I could get a deeper drift through the larger pools, which was where I was catching a majority of my fish. A long dead drift though the pools turned up reliable hits from good sized brownies regularly. I continued moving along, marveling at the beauty of this stream and being somewhat disappointed that it didn't have higher catch rates. Coming to one of the last convenient places to exit, I decided to cut the day a little short. I fought my way through another rhododendron slick, a common occurrence on our steams, and headed up a draw back to the truck.


After a decent hike back down the road, I got in the truck and decided to hit the delayed harvest for a bit to kill some time. Now, fishin a DH stream is a whole world of different than a wild trout stream. I took off the earlier rig and tied on a big chartreuse stimulator with a red ass nymph hanging of the back, two of the bigger, uglier flies I carry with me. Instead of dead drifting the fly like a normal stream, the trout here wanted that stimulator skated across the current, resulting in vicious strikes where 14" fish were coming completely out of the water to hammer the dry or nymph. They didn't show much preference between the two, as long as it was hanging in the current.

I don't fish DH's much, particularly in the spring during when the wild streams are on fire. But, I was in the area and decided to see what was going on there. I caught quite a few fish, most over 12". I missed a submarine of a trout that tasted the hook but popped free. The largest fish of the day was a 16" brookie that destroyed the stimulator while it was hoping over the tailout of the pool. A nice fish, but a wild fish that size would pull me into my backing and is what fills my dreams at night! Getting bored, I decided to head home, satisfied at a great day of fishing.