For one reason or another, I've been having a hard time finding motivation to write this report. Finally here on this Monday morning, where I'm even less motivated to begin work for the week, I've decided to finally sit down and peck this out.
I drove up to the beautiful and productive Trinity River a couple of weeks ago. Unlike the other trips so far, this would only be a one day excursion. With the price of gas falling, I felt a little better about short time spent on the water. Still, this is quite a drive for only one day of fishing. Although I think the results made it worth it.
Arriving before sunrise, I started rigging up by my car's dome light. The air was cold and I needed a few layers to be comfortable. By the time the sun was high enough to see, I was ready to head down to the water. My location was somewhere along Steiner Flat Rd. This was chosen for a couple of reasons. First, less driving distance. Second, the area was worth more exploring.
As usual, I started with a set of smaller flies to get a feel for the fish and what their mood is. I had an intermediate poly leader with a couple feet of tippet separating the size 10 and size 14 flies. The front and smaller fly was a winged wet, the back was a bead headed soft hackle.
Within ½ hour of swinging, a large fish was hooked. The bite took place about 60 feet away from me just after the dead drift as the fly started to swing across. The fish was strong and bolted for cover near a large boulder. That was the end of that. The fish was off and after a closer inspection, I could see that my soft hackle hook was bent.
I found a similar replacement in my box and tied it up front where the winged wet was and then tied on a slightly larger generic spey fly on the rear. If I catch him again, maybe he'll go for the stronger salmon/steelhead hook and it won't bend. I decided to leave this fish rest a bit, hopefully he hadn't left the run completely.
Went downstream to the next good looking spot and swung through with no results. Now, it was time to go back upstream and try that initial run again.
After getting back to almost the same exact spot, I hooked another strong fish. Was it the same one? Who knows. It didn't matter, it was a nice fight that lasted a few minutes and put a good bend in my 7-weight. I tailed the wild fish and removed that spey fly from his mouth without lifting him from the water. Since I didn't pull him out, I couldn't get an accurate measurement against my rod. I'd guess he was somewhere between 22 and 26 inches.
The rest of the day was almost a mirror image of the early morning. I hooked around a dozen fish, landing 6 of them (I caught several smaller trout, but I don't count those). All of them caught were healthy and strong in the range between 18 and 25 inches. A few of them were very bright.
The Trinity continues to be one of my favorite destinations. I hope to get out there again in the not so distance future.
I drove up to the beautiful and productive Trinity River a couple of weeks ago. Unlike the other trips so far, this would only be a one day excursion. With the price of gas falling, I felt a little better about short time spent on the water. Still, this is quite a drive for only one day of fishing. Although I think the results made it worth it.
Arriving before sunrise, I started rigging up by my car's dome light. The air was cold and I needed a few layers to be comfortable. By the time the sun was high enough to see, I was ready to head down to the water. My location was somewhere along Steiner Flat Rd. This was chosen for a couple of reasons. First, less driving distance. Second, the area was worth more exploring.
As usual, I started with a set of smaller flies to get a feel for the fish and what their mood is. I had an intermediate poly leader with a couple feet of tippet separating the size 10 and size 14 flies. The front and smaller fly was a winged wet, the back was a bead headed soft hackle.
Within ½ hour of swinging, a large fish was hooked. The bite took place about 60 feet away from me just after the dead drift as the fly started to swing across. The fish was strong and bolted for cover near a large boulder. That was the end of that. The fish was off and after a closer inspection, I could see that my soft hackle hook was bent.
I found a similar replacement in my box and tied it up front where the winged wet was and then tied on a slightly larger generic spey fly on the rear. If I catch him again, maybe he'll go for the stronger salmon/steelhead hook and it won't bend. I decided to leave this fish rest a bit, hopefully he hadn't left the run completely.
Went downstream to the next good looking spot and swung through with no results. Now, it was time to go back upstream and try that initial run again.
After getting back to almost the same exact spot, I hooked another strong fish. Was it the same one? Who knows. It didn't matter, it was a nice fight that lasted a few minutes and put a good bend in my 7-weight. I tailed the wild fish and removed that spey fly from his mouth without lifting him from the water. Since I didn't pull him out, I couldn't get an accurate measurement against my rod. I'd guess he was somewhere between 22 and 26 inches.
The rest of the day was almost a mirror image of the early morning. I hooked around a dozen fish, landing 6 of them (I caught several smaller trout, but I don't count those). All of them caught were healthy and strong in the range between 18 and 25 inches. A few of them were very bright.
The Trinity continues to be one of my favorite destinations. I hope to get out there again in the not so distance future.
2 comments:
I am amazed at your success on these California rivers -- I believe your advocacy of the Spey rod is dead on -- the extra swing time is critical for success on larger rivers. A dozen fish on the Trinity on foot is outrageously good. I believe I'd like to go with you and just shoot video -- keep up the posts. I am reading them regularly.
Hi Keith.
Well, a dozen hooked. Not landed! :)
I've turned into such a big fan of spey casting and two handed rods. Although I do cast my switch rod overhead on occasion, I haven't gone back to my one handed rod since. (Almost a shame. I should get out there with it and hit one of these smaller streams.)
I'm not sure that my actual presentation has changed all that much since switching to two handers. It is just that I can reach more water when backed up against trees or brush. Which is quite often. (I could never roll cast all that far like some people are able to do.)
If you'd like to go fishing sometime, let me know! I'm always open to meeting up with others. I like to sponge off others and learn new stuff! :)
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