A darned fine day
- This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated Sep 6, 2008 at 1:48 am by
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Let me start by saying that I understand that this is going to sound like no big deal to some of y’all. I’m not a very good fisherman. In fact, up until I turned 33, I hated fishing. As a kid, I was dragged around northern MN and Canada trolling for Walleye. I often would not fish, instead reading a book in the bow of the boat while my dad and brother enjoyed some of the finest walleye fishing available.
I’ve been trying to fly fish for a bit over two years now. I’m too much of my dad’s son to hire a guide to show me how to fish on my “home” waters, so I’ve been going it pretty much alone – reading as much as I can, asking folks on the river and in fly shops. At least it’s rare for me to get skunked now (I think when I first started my record was 9 straight fishless trips). I have a few days where I’ll catch 6 – 8 fish, some of them ranging into “keeper” size.
Today I went to the Clinch with a co-worker. He’s a beginner as well. I felt pretty confident that I could get into a few fish around the wier, so I actually started with an olive wooly bugger and really tried to fish it. I’ll be darned. I did not land them but I actually hooked a couple of fish. I was so shocked I lost ’em.
I then switched to my new favorite fly and absolutely tore ’em up – at least for me. My co-worker fished a Prince nymph and did similarly. There were only a few other folks there, and they were not getting any action, but Adam and I were really catching some fish. Still smallish stockers, but fun nonetheless.
So I moved down a ways below the dam to a spot that’s always looked “fishy” to me but I’ve never been able to catch anything in. I swung my nymph through there and caught a few fish, then hit one that I thought was a snag on the bottom. Turned out it was this:
Yeah, I know for some folks it’s kinda small, but it’s a “slot-limit” trout on the Clinch. This is the biggest trout I’ve ever caught on a fly rod, and it was gorgeous. Caught on a fly I tied, in a spot that I knew had to have some decent fish in it. This guy actually got me into my drag a bit – it was awesome.
The feeling will fade next time, but for now at least I feel like I have actually figured this out a little bit.
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