Dry Fly Time on my Home River

There are many times of year that are exceptional for dry fly fishing on my home stream, but only a few times when dry flies are dramatically more effective than nymphs, and windy days in early summer are particularly productive on the surface. Next time I visit this creek the water should be up a little and I'll probably opt for a big foam beetle with a PT dropper, but yesterday it was all stimulators and hoppers and bombers. I did have to use an Ausable Ugly for one deep plunge, but every other fish came up to the surface.

The first fish smashed a royal stimulator and I was very excited to see that it was quite a nice brookie, I only catch a few natives like this each year in this stream so every one is special.

There is literally always a trout next to that big rock, but I almost never hook it. In fact, it has been two years since I caught a fish in that pocket. It turned out to be a very pretty brown about 7 inches long. I photograph every decent sized fish I catch here, and I know for sure this one is one I have not caught before. I fish this stream at least one time a month and yet I have almost never caught the same fish more than once. By almost never I mean every one in ten fish is a repeat. There are a large number of fish in this stream!!!

The nine inch fish bellow is about as stunning as a wild brown trout will get. The huge bright red spots, the orange adipose fin, the dark navy spots on the cheeks. Tell me, is there a more beautiful trout out there?

I fished very quickly the yesterday. If we get the kind of rain we need, the next trip here I will fish much slower and cover the water more thoroughly and accurately.