Love these fish.

I finally stopped by the river yesterday and threw a few casts-- I tried a few different flies before settling on a golden stonefly nymph with an HBI nymph dropper. The stonefly nymph was the basic stonefly pattern I've been using except that it's a #10 stonefly tied on a #8 tmc scud hook, giving it a much more curled appearance. I figured the HBI nymph would work on the swing and I used tmc's spbl hook which is the best hook I've found for piercing fish mouths with ease. Needless to say I was confident. The river was low and the weather was pushing a murderous 100 degrees (people in the arizona area are rolling their eyes at me I'm sure).

I made numerous casts to fast water with no luck. I decided to work the seams and even let a few casts drift in some slow water -- it was during one of these drifts when my indicator went slowly under. I figured I was scraping the bottom but, as always, I set the hook anyways and I felt it-- the fisherman drug that keeps us habitually waving a fishing stick on the water: the surging tug of a fish on the end of my line. I saw the fish right away and knew I needed to reel in some line and let the drag handle this one. Predictably, chaos ensued and I chased this one around with difficulty since I wasn't wading-- I promptly fell on my arse and soaked my shoes and pant legs. #%^&$. In the end I had a football shaped fatty in my net taping out at a glorious 19" that took the stonefly. It may not seem like a trophy but I haven't caught a fish over 16" since well before the 4th of July so... in context it seemed like a monster to me, plus I think I'm infatuated with girthy fish:


Unfortunately the digital camera is on the fritz (I blame blue lakes dust) so I will have to resort to the cell phone for a while. But you get the idea.

After this fish I made a few more casts, botched two hook sets and then had to go home, and change my wet clothes. After the at&t tech came by to look at our intarwebs I went out again, but for some reason I chose to go out east and get frustrated with some of the craziest deep water on the truckee which is near impossible to nymph. I tried a sink-tip with a streamer for a little while, but after a carp swam by I figured my chances of catching a trout were slim. I stripped off my gear and enjoyed the refreshing water. What a day!