Fabulous drive for small stream fishing

Our friend Eric and his son Brady arrived yesterday and we fished the river shortly after they got camp set up. Within a few minutes Eric was catching fish! Just like riding a bicycle we say. Brady, 11 years old, is interested in fly fishing and he's a great "netter." I love it when kids are interested in fishing. Or when someone who's never tried it wants to learn. We love to share our love of fly fishing with others.

The flow of the river is at 767 cfs as of 7/14 which is a little high when you're less than 5'4". It's still fishable, I just cannot cross the river right now. There are many places to fish that are easily accessible from this side of the river. The farmers in the area control the flow of water from the dam and they've recently cut hay and I guess they're irrigating their fields again. Anyway, the water is high compared to when we arrived a month ago, almost double. It was about 400 cfs and there was a nice dry bank to walk and sit on. Now there's almost no bank. When the river is flowing with more water, it gives the fish more places to be, spreading them out more. When it's lower they are more concentrated. The photo of our feet in a previous post was taken where the grassy bank used to be.

Today we travelled about 40 miles to a small stream and caught brook trout. All of us, including 11 year old Brady, caught fish! The stream was fairly narrow, probably 10-15 feet across in most places, and we used our 3-weight fly rods with small dry flies. We kept enough brookies for dinner in the 8" to 10" size. Some of the fish that jumped on my hook were no bigger than my finger! Oh, I guess that's why they call them fingerlings! The stream runs out of Reservoir Lake and is a remote location up a dirt road for half the trip. We passed a few ranches along the way and saw lots of cattle and horses in the green pastures. At one small homestead there was a beautiful horse that ran along the length of it's pasture, whinnying as we drove by. There were other beautiful horses in the valleys and pastures - it must be the clean air and green pastures.

We also saw deer and antelope = playing, of course!

There are a couple National Forest Service campgounds in the area, but we did not see another person fishing. It was a beautiful stream lined with colorful wildflowers, surrounded by pine forests and blue skies. Add good friends and good fishing and you get a perfect day.