The Ignorant Angler

The caddis made their inaugural appearance of the season this week.   Normally, I find no need to hurry out to the river.  You can if you like.  Arrive too early, and its too bright, and surprisingly, a bit warm already.  The last hour or two is the best time of the day.  Once the wind settles, clouds of caddis fly en masse.  It's an incredible sight.  I think that you'll agree.
This week, I went twice.  When I arrived at the river, a few tree swallows busily flew over the water.  They're a good indicator of the presence of winged insects.  In this case caddis!
Once fishing, I stuck with adult caddis patterns.  Basically an elk hair type.  I also use deer, caribou and antelope for the wings.  They all work.  The antelope and caribou hair is more brittle though.
On the first night I had a devil of a time trying to spot my imposter on the surface of the water. So, after I got home,  I tied a few with a fluorescent post.  That helped a little.




Interestingly, the real bugs, b…

Another winter season on the spring is coming to a close.  This would be an all day trip.  I wanted to squeeze as much out of the day as possible.  The day got off to a frosty start.  No messing around today, I decided to forego usual fire starting ritual and dressed outside. Did I say that it was chilly?  And, the temp continued dropping while I was rigging.  The old fingers were a bit frozen and clubby by the time that I was ready to go.  Now,  I'd packed a bunch of those instant warming packets for years.  Yesterday, I finally gave one a try. Tucked into my wader hand warmer pouch, my fingers were at least comfortably thawed by the time I reached my chosen fishing spot.



I waited a bit for the sun to creep down the west facing slopes and into the valley.  Once it did, it didn't take long for the morning to warm.  Midges would be the main item on the fish menu. Well, at least that was what I was serving.  A nice cutthroat came to the net right off the bat. Then a nice rainbo…

Twenty-six inside the fisherman's hut when I arrived yesterday (it was seven on the pass and icy as hell).  So, a few sticks in the barrel stove were in order.  There was no need to hurry, it would be awhile before the sun burned off the frost and the bugs got going.  No matter, I was rigged and ready for the anticipated midges.  Blue wings?  Well we'd have to see.
I heard a vehicle pull up.  It was Satoshi Yamamoto. Angler, guide, and all around nice guy.  Our paths had crossed over the past few years but we'd never had a chance to visit much.  This morning we caught up a bit.  I won't rehash the conversation, but he has a great blog with lots of useful fishing info (http://leftyangler.blogspot.com).  His personal bio is quite interesting too. And, I was most pleased when Satoshi graciously allowed me to take a few photos of him fishing.



Once it warmed, the morning turned into a stunner.  No wind, fish rising.  Just pinch me.
I walked back to the hut and retrieved my…

That a size twenty-two hook can hold a fish is remarkable.  How does such a small hook stick to the corner of the fish's mouth or tip of its snout?  Even more remarkable is that 7X tippet can hold up against the frantic stop and go runs of a fish.  And then, perhaps the biggest miracle of all is being able to attach the barely visible leader to said fly.
Today would be heavenly.  Seventy degrees.  In March. And for once, the wind was not commensurate with the temperature.
Fish were dimpling.  But not taking on the surface.  Close though, a tail or back would show. Today, something small, suspended barely, would be the ticket.  



With a long leader, I need some sort of indicator fly to clue me in on the location of the main fly.  Something small, with a dab of fluorescence for a post works ok.  Sometimes the fish eat it too, but usually its the dropper that they take.





The morning was most productive.  Browns.  Rainbows.  A few cutthroats too.  Sometimes they like what you're se…