Point 16: Honing in on some bows before the runoff hits

May 17th, 2025

On a clear, warm spring day I decided to visit one of my favorite trout fisheries to shake off the rust that had accumulated from not targeting trout on rivers, which is my usual domain. With a weekday afternoon free and nothing on my personal schedule I could think of nothing better to occupy my time with. I also took the gamble on bringing along my dog along to see how she would tolerate a fishing trip for the first time.

Upon arriving to the fishing access site, I noticed the water level was a little higher due to some runoff but still mostly clear and not stained yet from the rapidly melting snowpack. My dog and I took the path adjacent to the river, looking at familiar spots for signs of life. I could see the occasional fish rising, snatching bugs on the surface which was a promising sign as it's predominantly a nymphing fishery.

We settled on a spot where a small island formed from the diverging river with plenty of vegetation and nooks and crannies for my dog to explore without as much oversight from me. There was a promising hole here as well- a deep undercut bank carving away towards the interior of the island and just upriver from that a log jam with lots of interesting structure for fish to hide.

I could see lots of caddis flies clumsily fluttering along the bank of the river in this section and an easy decision was made to string up a size 16 elk hair caddis along with a copper john tailing it as a dropper for good measure. While stringing up my rig, I saw a small handful of rises from good sized fish greedily smacking the surface as the feasted on the small flies. With my first cast a decent sized fish quickly ascended from the depths to engulf my fly. A fight ensued with this meaty fish as it

darted frantically around the pool trying to hide. It put up a strong fight for its weight class, bending my 4 weight quite severely as I desperately tried to keep it from wrapping itself underneath submerged wood and other debris. After a few good runs, I was able to bring him close enough to net him. It was a pretty-patterned rainbow of about 14 inches, and after a quick picture it friskily jumped out of my hands back into the water, before speeding off back to the depths. I stayed at this spot and a few adjacent ones, catching many more rainbows on the caddis with an occasional interest in the nymph below it while my dog happily romped around. I lost count of how many fish I caught but numbered probably over a dozen, with many rainbows in the 12-13 inch range along with a spattering of a few feisty juvenile browns. It turned out to be a wonderful day on the water for my pooch and I.

With catching a good number of rainbows, it satisfied the point on the challenge of catching 5+ 12 inch rainbows. Much more fishing to come this season once the runoff dies down. With 16 points down, 84 to go...