Triple Header: Points 5, 6 & 7 on the best fishing day of the year so far

June 17th

Today was an incredible fishing experience and was much needed after a necessary hiatus due to full blown runoff the last few weeks. Almost every day this month I would check the CFS flow of the two local rivers, dialed in to studying when the waters would be remotely fishable again. I noticed the last couple of days the CFS receded to around 800 for the river I was targeting and reports of some decent rainbow and brown catches started trickling in. I meticulously planned out my trip today; getting my rig ready the night before and Google Earth'ed some fishing spots I was wanting to check out. I was so excited it truly felt like the day before Christmas. I could barely sleep and set my alarm to 6:00am, which as a non-morning person should tell you how excited I was about the outing today.

I arrived at the fishing spot on the river I scoped out as the river valley was still cast in a shadow due to the sun not peeking over the canyon yet. I decided to start fishing at a confluence of a small creek flowing into the river with a euro-nymphing rig featuring a size 10 stonefly and a San Juan worm as the dropper. The very first cast yielded awesome results: a healthy and strong 15 inch rainbow voraciously took the worm and put up a good fight leading me up the creek before tuckering out and letting me net it. The fish appeared quite weathered with a frayed tail and

a couple small talon marks on its side. It must have lead a very resilient existence that made it grow stronger as a result. I usually take a moment after catching these types of fish to reflect on what their lives may have been like and the sentimentalistic implications in applying it to our personal lives. Usually, I keep these thoughts to myself as they typically trigger some eye-rolling responses to buddies I share these musings but I can't help but feel a deeper connection to these fish once I realize they face challenges in their own lives as well as ours.

Eye rolling conversation aside, I was ecstatic to catch a great fish right off the bat which qualified as another point off my list in catching a 15+ inch rainbow. I was hoping it would be indicative of the morning I would have with a steady stream of fish being caught but it actually turned out to be quite slow after this initial catch. I waded up and down the banks, focusing on deeper and slower moving runs with my nymph set up without so much of another bite. About an hour went by before I decided to give another spot a shot.

I drove down river and parked on the opposite side of the river and walked about a mile up river where I've had previous success. At this point the sun was up in the sky and warming up the valley. I waded to a small island splitting the river into two: the main channel on one side and a smaller channel on the other characteristic of a small creek. Just downriver of the island, a shallow shelf with a free-stone bottom jetted out where the water started to converge from the two channels of the river

reuniting. Looking downriver I almost couldn't believe my eyes; a few dozen dark shapes were laying on this shelf, I initially thought it was moss toiling in the water before realizing that these shapes were actually fish. I stealthily moved to the side of the river to position myself for casting to this school of fish and adjusted the depth of the indicator. I casted right down the middle of this school and it was clear after a few casts these fish couldn't care less about the stonefly or worm. The next half hour I toiled away at throwing just about everything in my fly-box repertoire trying to get any of these fish to bite to no avail. They ignored everything from pheasant tails to copper johns to zebra midges. I even tried casting a couple different streamers which appeared to briefly excite some of them but still couldn't trigger a bite. It was pretty frustrating as I was trying every trick up my sleeve.

Suddenly I noticed some fish were rising from the school, feeding on some tiny indiscernible insects on the surface. This is predominantly a nymph/wet fly fishery so trying some dry flies didn't cross my mind but seeing this made me completely change up my approach. I noticed some very small mayflies earlier in the morning so strung up some of my smallest BWO specimens from my fly box and started casting to the sections of water being disturbed by rising fish. Within a few casts a decent sized fish from the school eagerly splashed its way into taking my fly. A good fight ensued, and I was able to land a beautiful 14-inch brown trout. I was happy to see that the dry fly bite was on as I feel like it's the most exhilarating form of fly fishing. For the next 2 hours I stayed in almost the exact same spot slinging the same fly and catching one decent size brown trout after another, all of them filled with tons of energy. Sizes ranged from 14 inches to 19 inches, and all were vibrant and beautiful. I lost count of how many brown trout I pulled from this stretch but felt like it was around a doze and upwards of 15 fish. Some smaller rainbows were also taken here but nothing over 10 inches were caught it seemed. Eventually the catches tapered off and I decided to pack up and start heading back to my truck.

On my way back I thought I'd sporadically fish different holes with a streamer, in the off chance that a truly large fish would bite. Luckily a fitting grand finale occurred for today in the form of a big brown trout striking my olive-white size 8 streamer just as I was about to pull it out of the water. The fish was hooked in a section of the river

that was quite rapid and deep and unfortunately made runs down river, I was fighting from a rocky bank bordered by large overhanging brush making it impossible to walk or wade downriver to chase the fish. After a few minutes of fighting the fish pulling my line down river it began tiring and was spiraling in the water downstream, essentially giving up but still making short sporadic runs. Unfortunately due to its size and the swiftness of the river I could barely reel it in against the current. My line was stretched out maybe 50 yards and I could see the backing of the reel just waiting to start unspooling. I felt like I was left with few options at this point, I emptied out my waders pockets containing my phone and keys and jumped into the four and a half feet water in pursuit of my hopeful catch. It felt reminiscent of the scene from A River Runs Through It when Brad Pitt chased his trophy rainbow down a waterfall, although my experience wasn't nearly as dangerous or theatrical but was still quite exciting. Eventually I made my way downstream enough to net my awesome catch: an 18-19 inch colorful brown.

It was truly an amazing day on the water and I felt so happy to land a good number of beautiful fish. For Legendary Angler points, I caught over five 14+ inch browns, a 15 inch rainbow and at least two 18+ inch brown trout. These fish satisfied three additional points, giving me up to 7 in total. I will surely do more fishing now that the rivers are down and help expand my point total.

93 points to go for my Legendary Angler challenge.