For the first time this season, the trout seemed to be looking up. I was solo on a favorite small stream today. Flows were still a bit high, too high for my best spots but I was thankful to be able to fish at all. The first pulse of spring snowmelt runoff has hit and most rivers are running high and brown…
The flows on this stream were slightly higher than when I visited 2 weeks ago but the fish behavior was completely different. The fish were actively feeding on the surface, or maybe just under. There was a lot of insect activity with a several type of mayflies hatching. In the morning, Blue-winged Olives were popping off consistently but that faded around midday. From there on, red-quills were hatching all afternoon with a few larger March Browns mixed in. Lots of other bugs flittering about, small stoneflies and lots of midges and flying ants. I even saw a rare Adams fly perched on a Trillium…
I’m not sure how many cutthroats were brought to hand, double digits for sure. Two fish in particular were fairly large for this stream, running about 12-14″ but of course I wasn’t able to get a photo of either. I’ve mostly decided to stop stop taking photos of fish unless I can do it while keeping them in the water or can return them very quickly. These two were while in a very precarious spot so I wasn’t able to get the camera out without stressing the fish so they’ll live in my memory and fishing log…
As usual, my hot fly was a softhackle. Not usual was the method of delivery… The winning ticket today was a #16 Starling & Green presented on a dead drift. I tied it on as a trailer to my favorite caddis imitation, my mylar bodied Elk & CDC. The high floating dry fly kept the softhackle just under the surface and enabled me to track the drift. Both of the bigger fish took the softhackle dropper while a couple small fish hit the caddis. I missed one fish that made my heart race, it was probably the biggest fish I’ve seen in that river, maybe 18″ or so. Now I know where he lives… The photo below shows one of the pretty cutthroats that took the S&G softhackle.
While sitting on a log, I heard a load crashing from across the stream. At first, I thought it was a few blacktail deer but they are usually stealthy as the move along the banks. Then I saw a bunch of black shapes moving through the brush and I was sure it was a pack of wild dogs so I started reaching for my bear spray in case they crossed the stream. I was very surprised when a family of 5(!) otters popped out of the bushes. They were much larger than I what I remembered for river otters, easily as big as a medium sized dog. Kicking myself for not having my camera out, I whistled at them to get their attention. One of them gave me a quick glance then ignored me like the other four as they started working upstream. I figured that was a good time for me to change direction and head downstream as they are probably better at fishing than me!
About CrowMountain