Fishing Fall Tricos & Baetis

Prior to the water being lowered, the fishing was good and since the water has been low, at 33 cfs, it continues to be good, but very challenging. I was a little surprised that the lower water brought more people to the river. We would have probably left here if we had not committed to oversee the campground while the owners were gone. The weather has turned to fall temps and we like it warm. We love that we've wet waded the entire time (from June through September) and haven't gotten the waders out one time. We loved being able to stand in the cool (cold!) water, but be warm enough to be comfortable. Thinking about our summers spent sweltering in Phoenix made the cold water feel all the better.

(The photo above of the rainbow trout next to my Steffen Brothers fly rod shows that the fish is about 3" beyond the 20" mark. My rod has a thread rap at the 16" and 20" marks. Not sure if you can see the detail.)

In the last couple days here I achieved the triple crown, the trifecta, the grand slam! On the same day I caught rainbow trout, brown trout, and white fish! It took me 100 days to get it done, but I did. And in the last couple days I caught a brown trout on a crane fly! A gigantic size 6 crane fly tied by Rick! They're smaller than a dragon fly, but still huge compared to the size 22 tricos that are so common now. It reminded me of throwing big flies on the South Fork of the Snake! We'd seen crane flies for the last couple weeks, but hadn't really seen the fish on them. When I saw a real crane fly get jumped by a fish yesterday I quickly tied one on and had a fish strike at it. I missed hooking it and threw the fly back in the same spot. This time I hooked it and had it on for a nano-second. I couldn't fool it a third time so I started walking the river, tossing to the bank, and it wasn't long before I hooked and landed a brown that had made the mistake of thinking it was a crane fly snack.

The crane fly was a fluke because 99.9% of the insects are a size 20 or smaller. And they are everywhere! I mean in your ears, in your hair, all over your arms and legs, on your glasses, down your shirt, up your shorts, in your mouth and in your nose! Everywhere! I've sniffed a couple and today Rick had me laughing so hard! He was covering his face, saying "Don't breath!" (I think I have some video of him trying to cast and swatting at the bugs that I'll try to share with you.) I've never seen trico hatches like this. Or are they baetis? I just know they are tiny tiny bugs that the fish love! Actually I've never been where they've been. We've fished mostly larger insects, and I have to admit this is as much fun! But definitely more difficult. The flies are more delicate, the tippet is more delicate, and the fish don't make mistakes. They are looking for the perfect drift and a close resemblance to the real bug. This is not the time or place to learn to fly fish and is a challenge for the most experienced angler.