I finally made it back to
the Sipsey Tuesday to connect with the new stockers that were released in the
tailrace a couple of weeks ago. I was met this morning with a slight mist and
cooler temperatures in the high 40’s, which is a drastic contrast from the hot
humid weather I face here in the summer.
As I was suiting up I was
wondering if I should wait to tie on a fly before seeing if there was any type
of hatch occurring. I do love to land trout here on top and lately that hasn’t
been the case, but that little voice kept telling me to suit up, and
fish the nymph. My last outing here had me fishing high water and today was
supposed to be different with no generating and the guys at the dam held true
to their word, generators off all day.
I begin casting today at a
set of logjams that span 30 to 40 yards in fairly deep water up the gorge. The
water was super clear making it easy to see my prey with my polarized glasses.
This area is not fished heavy, simply because most like to fish in shallower
water here. This area has depths of 5 to 6 ft. The trout like to use the logs
as cover and dart out and nail a fly pattern as it passes over.
Dead drifting nymphs over
the logjams and letting it drop produced this dark-colored rainbow.
A deep cut on the gill
plate of this trout tells me that there is more than trout swimming in this
tailrace.
I wish I had been using my video camera for
this particular rainbow; lots of air jumps. No way was this trout going to let
me whole it for the picture, but it did manage to stay still long enough for
me to get this water image shot before it swims away to freedom. I landed a number of trout
today, but what really frustrated me was losing so many fish on this outing. I
guess it may be time to change from my 3 weight and go with my 4 weight on my next trip.