shoulda used a rainbow midge....

Started by Woolly Bugger, July 15, 2019, 12:45:21 PM

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Woolly Bugger

Driver texted and wanted to know where I was fishing this weekend, unfortunately Saturday was out due to a previous commitment, but I was a go for Sunday. After my last outing on the SoHo I was stoked to make a return trip and imaged of little yaller bugs filled my brain and fly box with Comparaduns and splitbacks along with some midges just in case.
Did think that we need to get there super early so we settled on meeting in WS at 6:30 for the 2:30 drive to the river. Woke up a bit early and then got this text:

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Well 7:15 ended up being 7:25 and we finally transferred the Driver's gear into the CR-V for the haul up 77 and down 81 headed to the fly shop to pick up a few musthaves and a couple of mightneeds along with some whynot but damn it they were closed, I thought there were open on Sunday mornings, but not anymore. We drove on down a ways on Big Spring and settled into a good spot between a pair of spincasters.

As I was leading the way down an exposed ledge I slipped, tried to recover, slipped again and went down hard on my right hip, hand and knee. I didn't bounce back up and the first thing Driver said was, "did you break a hip?" "I'm NOT that damn old", I replied. I was sore and slow getting up but wading into the cold water aided the joints. I'm glad I was wearing waders for I might have sustained some rock rash.

There were only a few bugs flying about and only an occasional rise but I put Driver on a prime spot with a dry as I went dark with splitshot and beadheads. We worked the water at the rabid fox hole (you'll have to search for that old report) without a hook up, Driver missed a couple and had one get off prematurely. I finally gave up on nymphing after losing a set of flies on some snag and switched to a dry fly and I began to think that the spinners had hammered this run before we got there. I managed to get a few fish to rise and even caught a few.

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We gave up on this location and moved on up stream, where Driver caught a few and I managed to get some more to hand. Then we broke for lunch in the heat of the day. I asked the guys that had been fishing the flats if they had have much luck, they said that they were fishing a splitback about eight inched under and had some success. We went on talking and I found out that one was going to Montana for two weeks, hauling his low-profile Hyde out there and the other one had planned to go but had to back out due to some undisclosed reason. I offered to fill the empty seat in the bote and I'm now making plans to possibly go out there and fish with them for a week but this can only happen if the stars all align. At this point it's 60/40 that I won't be able to make it.

After we drank a beer and ate some sardines and chorizo we headed up to the dam to see if we could find a spot to fish down below the powerlines.

The river wasn't terribly crowded and we found an empty stretch that I hadn't been to before. There were fish rising and some sulphurs were popping off but dame the fish were picky. We caught a few and lasted until about a half hour after the second siren went off at the dam signaling the evening release.  Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


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Back at the car we had one for the road and I got the Driver back to his vehicle by 8:30 ish so he could resume his parental responsibilities by 10 PM.





ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Yallerhammer

Women want me, doughbellies fear me. - Little Debbie Prostaff

Phil


Dougfish

You sloppy bastards.  :laugh:   0:0
"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
 Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
Kelly's Heroes,1970

"I don't wanna go to hell,
But if I do,
It'll be 'cause of you..."
Strange Desire, The Black Keys, 2006

dhjunkie


Woolly Bugger

Quote from: dhjunkie on July 16, 2019, 13:05:37 PMX-rays pending on that hip?

Hell no, first night I couldn't sleep on that side but I be fine now
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

dhjunkie

That fall probably would've killed a normal man.

Woolly Bugger

Quote from: dhjunkie on July 16, 2019, 16:58:03 PMThat fall probably would've killed a normal man.

I just edited the post now shoulda been NOT as in I'm not that old!
ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!

Fishbug

I am familiar w the SOHO slips

good stuff


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Woolly Bugger



I wanted to go back and try again... with only two bumps scheduled for the day I was planning an all day wade trip. But things didn't work out that way. 1. I overslept 2. had to help out at the home befroe I could hit the road. 3. I chose the wrong route, everything was going along fine until I hit 19E out of Elizabethton where a bad wreck shut the road down and it's one of those you can't get there from here situations. Well I had to go through Elizabethton and hit 26 and then go through Piney Flats. I almost stopped and fished the Watauga instead, but drove on by.

Nobdy was on the lower river that I could see with the exception of a raft. Used my "old man stick" and walked on down the river without a spill.  I still had a puff daddy on the rod from the last trip and when I got to my spot on the river I cast it into the run. A nice brown in the 16-18 inch range took the fly and I set the hook with vigor, too much pepper and broke the 6.5x tippit. Damn it!

Caught a few pune bronws and then switched over to split-back and big horn baetis with a splitshot and bobber rig and caught a mixture of browns and rainbows. There was thunder booming in the distance since I had arrived and I had passed through a shower ont the way, now it was raining down on me. It came down hard for a few minutes and then the sun was back out. Thunder continued in the distance all day.

First fish to hand
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Typical catch
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I moved on up the river to a spot that I'll alway remember when my son was fishing with me and his short cast caught a nice fish and I learned where the fish hold in that spot. I saw a nice brown rising regularly and cast to it and damn if I didn't break off on the hook set.

The hatch came and went and there wasn't really a much going on, the river was quite and the day was getting long. I had planned to fish until dark but another storm blew through and I beat it back to the car and called it quits.

Last fish of the day.
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ex - I'm not going to live with you through one more fishing season!
me -There's a season?

Pastor explains icons to my son: you know like the fish symbol on the back of cars.
My son: My dad has two fish on his car and they're both trout!