The Gauntlet

OK here is my follow-up to my previous post, Friday April 27th, 2012 my "big" plans from Friday unraveled a bit only because I got distracted...  Saturday the 28th I met my friend Jon at the Salmon River and wanted to show him a spot that my friend Evan and I had recently done extremely well on.  A cold morning at 34 degrees, we suited up in our waders & fly vests and after a short hike we were fishing the same pool I had visited during the rain storm two weekends ago.  Right off the bat, I managed a decent brown on an olive wooly bugger that has no hackle left on it because it is the only fly I've been using this entire year.  Jon said, "What? Was that your first cast?" I replied, "Third, there's more in here."  ... Turns out I lied, we couldn't get a rise out of anything.  Two other fishermen trying to stay out of the wind casting worms weren't hooking up either.  

Jon and I started heading upstream search casting along the way.  Fished a 500' stretch, nothing.  Stopped at another long deep pool at the base of a set of rapids.  Jon was casting to rising trout with a couple bumps but no takes, and I couldn't hook into another fish to save my own mouth.  Fished the next 1000', nothing.  Two hours into our day and it wasn't looking good.  Jon was visibly not buying into fishing any longer, he made his way up to where I was to tell me he was leaving.  I told him I was just going to fish up to the next bend and call it if I didn't get anything.  We about-faced and headed in opposite directions.  I fished the next half-mile heading upstream without a bite, without seeing any surface action, no hatches coming off the water but the sun hadn't made it over the East bank of the river yet.  I had never been on this stretch of river before, so the best part was that it was new and void of fishermen... but probably a sign of a lack of fish.

As I continued upstream, I recalled my last blog post about NOT doing yard work or chores, and simply fishing the weekend away.  Then I also recalled that my fiance Laura had read the post Friday night and said I have one chore I need you to do... "Plant those black-eyed susans."  I laughed to myself thinking: I better get those flowers in the ground.  After turning the next corner, crossing an island, I came to a slow pool area.  As I scanned the water I tripped on a rock and made a big splash that spooked an immature eagle or possibly a golden eagle.  At any rate, this bird was absolutely huge.  I said out loud, "Wow" and watched a nearly 6-7' foot wing span heading up river.  Besides being beautiful, the best thing about seeing a bird like that on the river is that there are fish nearby.  It's like that saying, Are bears Catholic, Does the Pope.... yup I said it.  So directly under where the eagle was perched was a pool and a small point extending into the river with a current flowing through it, and it was full of rising trout.  I caught one from that pool, with fish still rising constantly.  I decided to come back to it, as I was dehydrated to the point of a beerless hangover, and not willing to tie a fly on that was not a mangled olive wooly bugger.  I fished another mile without a take and stopped as soon as I saw another fisherman another 1500' upstream.  I walked into the woods to avoid being spotted and walked back into the water on top of the best stretch I saw during my travels.
Here is a diagram I drew of this stretch illustrating two different scenarios.

AutoCAD Example River

Here's my take on this section.  Position A is where I came out of the woods upstream of the two areas I wanted to fish.  Positions B through D are all relatively the same with some small exceptions, being structure orientation and river current direction.  At "B" I wanted to be closer to the main current because it was the fastest water.  The reason behind this is that due to the length of the fly rod you can lift the line over the current to avoid it pulling your fly down stream faster than desired.  I always fish sections like this in a two step pattern keeping the same line amount at approximately 30'.  So I will cast near the bank allowing the slower current against the bank to slowly swing my presentation downstream, keeping the rod tip elevated slightly so I avoid having too much drag on the mid section of my main line.  This allows the fly (streamer pattern) to sink and "swim" at the desired depth.  From the same position, I can adjust line lengths slightly to cover the structure allowing the fly to pass over the downstream side of the boulders.  The "two-step" pattern is because after I take five or so casts I move down stream with two steps and repeat.  I've never liked to fish the same cast over and over and over again, at least in moving water like this.  At position "C" I move away from the main current a bit because it has slowed and will not affect the middle portion of my main line.  Most casts like this produce fish at line positions 1, 3, and 4.  Or 1 after it first lands, 2 not during the period where the fly changes directions due to main line drag, 3 as it crosses structure, and 4 as it slows and the fly faces upstream and is steady for a 10-20 second period of time.  At position D I have moved a bit closer to the current again, but I am employing a lower rod tip to utilize the current's pull to move the fly.  Also, after sending out five casts and you had a bump but no commitment, try stripping the fly as fast as possible over that same spot I think it reduces the time they have to inspect the fly and just react to the fleeing streamer.  The strikes while doing this are violent and I usually miss the fish but it is worth it, it also works to pick off the Atlantic salmon because they are significantly more aggressive. Also don't forget to cast to the lone rock (Position "E") at the end of the field along the bank, the fat lazy fish are usually there.

Moving down to position F and G I fish with the streamer, but G, H, and "I" are areas where the fish are rising for insects off a hatch.  I landed one using the quick line stripping approach with a high rod tip.  Landed an 18" brown doing so.  Before returning, I tied on the smallest parachute fly I had, 10 casts no takes, fish still rising.  Tied on a blue-winged olive and added some floatant, fish first cast fish on.  Ok, now I got them patterned (IMO) and now to fish these positions.  By far "F" is the most difficult to fish, the surface action is tight to the west bank and I have a strong current close to the bank and do not want to move into the corner because there are fish surfacing there as well.  So at "F" your cast has to be damn good, about a foot and a half from the fish or softly dropped right on top since the fast current is going to pull your fly under in short order.  Position G is similar to both "H" and "I" because the current is actually facing you, basically the cast is nearly upstream.  I found that a nearly upstream cast will keep the fly on top longer than casting parallel to the current.  At "G" since the current is medium strength it will mend your line downstream and begin to pull the fly under but this position will allow at least twice the amount of time than at "F".  The big girl is gulping sipping insects constantly at the end of the rocks, but you should move to position "H" despite being able to reach it from G.  The reason here is to allow the fly to float on by without being pulled.  She took it as soon as it hit and what an amazing fight, I will not soon forget.

TOO BEAUTIFUL TO BE STOCKED

Position "I" is the spot where you don't get any bites and you tell yourself, I need to go eat something to get rid of this headache from walking upstream so damn far.  And plant some flowers...

Place To Myself!