Worth the wait

[hcrum87hc]

I hadn't planned to go fishing again until next month, but when I was looking at the forescast Sunday night, I saw how mild yesterday would be, and made a last second decision to hit some high elevation brookie water.

I hemmed and hawed over where I wanted to go, and I finally decided to go hit up a drainage that used to be my favorite, as the main river and all the tributaries were great.  That is, until they were devastated by a flood a few years back.  I haven't been back since then, as I knew it'd sadden me to see the state of my once favorite fishery, and I assumed the state of the fishing would be less than ideal.  However, I'd wondered about it for too long and took the plunge yesterday.

I was the first person at the parking area, but before I could even get out of the truck, two other cars pulled in, and a group of four "experienced" (old) hikers hopped out and headed down to the river.  I spoke with them a bit then rigged up.  I decided to try my new to me Butterstick, and as I was rigging it up, I realized the leader on the reel was a 9', and I wanted to shorten it to a 7.5'.  I pulled out my 6x leaders only to realize the Cabelas branded leaders don't have perfection loops, so I started out the day tying my leader to the butt end of my old leader with a loop.  Pro tip: don't buy Cabela's branded leaders.  There's a reason they're cheaper.  I decided to try a yellow stimulator with a hares ear dropper.

I started down the short but fairly steep trail to the river and came across this very interesting tree/root abomination.
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Nearly there.
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There's my old friend, and a bit easier to see from this point after some trees were removed by the flood.
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I had decided to hike down the river a bit and fish up a tributary, which was the sole tributary on this river I have not fished.  I've heard good things, but it was new to me. I was scouting the main river on my way downstream, as I had planned to fish back up it if time allowed after hitting the tributary.
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Remnants of a slide, the scope of which is hard to grasp in a photo.
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More remnants from the flood.  That boulder was HUGE, as was the log jam.  Later in the day, I got to thinking about the force of the water that occurred back then and the noise it would have made tumbling huge boulders like ragdolls.
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I eventually reached the spot where the trail dead ends at a backcountry camp site across from the targe tributary.  I spoke with a family that was camping there before heading across to the tributary, which I realized was MUCH steeper than I thought.  I decided to head up it anyways, and it was probably the steepest section of water I've ever fished.  Pictures don't do it justice, but it was essentially one waterfall or slide after another.  There were plenty of good sized drop pools, but I didn't pick anything up out of them or see anything for that matter.

Looking back downstream after climbing a ways.
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This creek just didn't stop climbing!
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I eventually reach a waterfall that I couldn't get over or easily around. I did see what looked like a trail that may go around, but it hadn't been used in some time and was quite overgrown.  I decided to climb/slide back down to the main stream and fish up it.
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When I got back down, I started heading up.  This first bit of the river had a lot of flood evidence.
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I fished up a few holes without any luck.  At one point I remember climbing over a long and hearing something hit the water below me.  I glanced but didn't see anything, assuming something fell out of my pockets.  I checked, and everything was accounted for.  After going up a little ways, I stopped for a snack break.  After finishing my snack, I reached for my filter bottle, which wasn't there.  I immediately knew where I'd lost it and left my gear to go downstream to find it.

I searched all over where I'd crossed over the log with no luck.  I felt around the bottom of the holes and felt around under rocks.  I'd assumed it probably floated since it was only about half full at the time I lost it, so headed down stream.  I checked a few more holes, and right before giving up found it on the backside of a large rock wedged between the rock and a limb in the water.  It'd have been a long, parched day without it.

After seeing a ton of smaller brown/dark grayish colored bugs in the air I switched the stimulator to a size 16 para adams.  At first I had a few swipes but nothing solid.  I then realized my dropper was too long and was probably effecting my drift, so I cut it off.  After that it was game on!

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I came to the pool that I saw from the trail in the earlier picture.  I had one guy swipe at my dry at the head of the pool but never commit.  As I edged around the right side I tried a few times from there, but couldn't entire him again.  At one point after making several casts, I looked down and saw this beauty just lying there, chilling.  He wasn't eating or moving in any way.
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I'd already been casting several times right above him and had pulled my fly in from behind him a few times.  Before moving on, I decided to dab my fly right on top of him, at which point he torpedoed up from the bottom and slammed it.  That was fun.
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From that point on I kept working my way upstream, either catching something or having swipes in nearly every hole.  At one point I switched my size 16 to a 14 so I could see it better, and they just ignored it.  After switching back to a 16, they started slamming it again.  I've never seen wild fish be quite that picky. That continued until just past lunchtime when things shut down.

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After about an hour of nothing, they inexplicably turned back on again.

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There's another tributary on this river I've fished in the past, so I headed just upriver to it to see what it looked like.  It looked like a completely different creek, but it still fished well!

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I only went about 200 yards up it before needing to hike back up to the truck, but I'll be back to make a day out of that one.  All in all, it was a great day, and I'm glad I decided to test the waters.  It's not the same as it used to be, but it's definitely back on my hit list.     
     

[troutboy_II]

Glad to see what they looked like after the flood. As soon as this new bionic knee settles down (fall?), I may make a try for the darker one again.

Thanks for the great pictures and narrative.

TB

[Woolly Bugger]

grand day on the water for sure... 

[joe friday]

Lots of work, but worth it.  beautiful catches.  thanks for sharing.

[benben reincarnated]

Never fished as good as it did since September 2021 just after the big purge.