Smith River 12/30/06

[Woolly Bugger]

I've been gradually replacing most of my vinyl records with cd's or from iTunes. (I'm really beginning to hate DRM,  but that's another topic.) My latest purchase includes The name of this band is Talking Heads with their fabulous rendition of Al Green's Take Me to the River.  I was listening to that song and got motivated to call Jeditrout and go fishing. He wanted to go back to the Smith River for some revenge as our last trip there wasn't very productive. As we were planning our trip we read the sad news of BrentG passing away.  I couldn't believe it, Brent, Kim and I were fishing the James River just this past August.  Brent was a kind and generous fisherman who always had a box full of flies to share, his flies were beautifully tied.  He was a strawboss at the PFF's and always helped out at the Smallie Shows too. 

With a heavy heart we went to the river. The day promised to be warmer and the sun tried to break through the clouds. But be the time we got on the water the cloud cover have taken over and while it never got too warm, it wasn't nearly as cold as the last time we fished the Smith. We had hiked down to an area that I call the ledges and it was some good looking water. There were a number of BWO's coming off the water but they were impossibly small. I tied on a BWO nymph, smallest that I had and worked the runs on one side as Jedi moved up the other. We worked this section for a couple of hours and we beginning to smell a skunk when I moved behind the island and worked the water on the backside. Here the water was more like a small stream and the holding spots were much more obvious. In short order I had a brown on the line but this one was a long distance release.  I moved on down to the end on the island and fished a deep eddy. I drifted the nymph down the seam and it twitched and I set the hook. I stripped in line and brought the eight inch brown trout to hand.  Now an eight inch brown trout is perhaps 3 or 4 years of age and they are remarkable for their incredibly detailed marking and brilliant color. I held the fish in the current as I removed the hook and as it lay in my hands I thought of Brent and his family as I release the fish.

We fished this section for a little while longer before hiking downstream looking for some more productive water. We stopped a short ways down in an overgrown field and walked to the river. Again it looked promising.  Jedi took the long run at the bottom and I took a break, eating a snack and mending my leader. I noticed another fisherman working his way up through the slack water above us. Surely he had just worked the water we were now fishing.  We worked the runs and riffles nymphing and trying dry flies too. Jedi manages a dink on a dry fly and I got zip. With another fisherman below us and the day growing long we headed back up the tracks. Looking down at the water as we walked we spotted a good size trout holding in a deep slow moving run. As we moved to get a better look it darted for cover and vanished into the rocks. We then dropped down to the water well below the trestle pool.  This water was looking good and we even spied a riser. Jedi was first to work the far side and I tried for the riser. But our wading put him down.  After a while Jedi  hooked a nice brown on a BWO! And a short time later I took one on a larva lace nymph. We almost had a double and we felt like the river was turning on! I started up towards the next series of runs but paused to work the slow water as I saw a couple of fish working the emergers.  One bad cast sent them for cover and put an end to my hopes of catching one on the surface. There was a chill in the air as the light faded behind the hills. It was five o'clock and I had enough of the Smith. It's a beautiful river and it holds a remarkable number of trout, even if there growth is stunted they are still worth going after.

The drive home was quiet we were both tired from the day on the river and the events of the previous days weighted heavily on our hearts. Our good friend Brent will be missed, but not forgotten, he will be always be remembers as a kind and generous gentleman and as skilled flytyer and fisherman.

[Al]

Good story Woolly. Very well written. Makes me reflect on life - After learning about Brent, I expect many are feeling the same way.

[troutjedi]

Sure is fun tryin'!  Gotta get that river figured out 

[Woolly Bugger]

Bump

I was just thinking about Brent this morning and realized that there wasn't a post in the Home Waters about his passing.

Moved a post to Home Waters

https://www.brfff.com/forum/index.php/topic,2306.0.html