Big Rainbow, Wild Char

Yesterday I fished a few different places with Rik. First we nymphed on the Salmon River. He used a euro rig some of the time, indicators some of the time. I used two flies and techniques adapted from Joe Humphreys. We both caught quite a number of fish, some fairly decent. Hot flies for me were a Sexy Walt's and a black UV ice dub nymph with an orange tag. Rik got most of his on a Tungsten Surveyor.

The last fish either of us caught took my Walt's. I was bouncing my flies through a deep pocket and the line jumped easily a foot upstream, the most obvious strike possible. It didn't take long for me to figure out that I had a really good rainbow on. The battle was a nail biter, and I thank my lucky stars it didn't jump much as my hook was set very lightly. This is my personal best rainbow at about 21 inches. I've hooked bigger, but this is the largest I've caught. Automatic day maker!

I'm not greedy and Rik wanted to try for some brookies, so that's what we did. The stream we chose was very brushed in already and the fish were being funny. I got lots and lots of splashy takes in every riffle but didn't hook many of them. The ones I did catch were absolutely gorgeous!

That isn't where our day ended, but it is where the trout did. More to come.