Little Bass, Big Rainbow

I went back to that pond I found a few days ago. I spent a couple hours fiddling around with different flies, catching small bass and pan fish. As the sun started to creep high in the sky the activity became slower and I needed to get into some shade, so I went to the nearest trout stream.

When I reached my intended destination I found trout rising to literally whatever hit the surface. A light breeze was knocking terrestrials in, but I saw some fish rise for small pine cones or bits of grass. I chose a nice big Elk Hair Caddis to entice takers, and it got me three browns. These fish were in very slow moving water. They were either taking the common midge pupae swimming under the surface, or what was delivered to them by the wind.

Then the wind stopped, and with it the surface activity. I tied on a nymph and began sight fishing, picking out the larger Brown and Rainbow Trout. One of the last I cast to was the only one caught: a big ole' Rainbow. He was sitting on the far side of a rock, fairly close to me. I carefully presented the nymph just to his right, dead drifted then twitched once when it was in front of him. That did the trick, I saw "the wink underwater" and set the hook. The initial run was impressive. It took a bit to keep him out of the fast water bellow the pool. When I got him within twenty feet the fish dove into the rocks. If you don't know, 6x and sharp stones don't mix. I gave him a little slack and he took off again for a shorter run, keeping me well clear of snags. That did him in and he came in more tired than I would have liked in the warmer summer water. The fish at the end of my line was a very healthy Bow, about 18 inches in length. A very quick photo shoot and plenty of time to recuperate and off he went with a powerful kick. I was happy; I had been worried that he wouldn't make it. to be sure i stayed and watched him for a while. He was plenty healthy enough to chase small trout out of his prime lie. 

Nice colors. Sometime I have to go west to see what the native ones look like.

After a little more time idly spent, I went to the TMA on the Salmon River to see if there were any trout left. The water was cool and there were a few, and one Rainbow was willing to eat a Red Humpy. I let him go without taking him out of the water. The last fish of the day was to be a little Smallmouth.