Blueline Wild 'Bows

After a week of having a blast in Disney it was back to reality and back to potentially hitting a new stream. Following a good bit of discussion my buddy and I decided on a blueline that is new to us. He had scouted it out a little by truck a week or so back and noted it held plenty of potential. And, we talked to other local friends who had fished the area before and claimed it was indeed worth a shot.

So, after a half day of much needed yard work we left out shortly after noon. The drive was nice as usual and the weather was tremendous. We knew that around 2pm the air temps would peak and we hoped that would also warm the water enough to spark some hatches. We couldn't have appeared to be anymore of a bug genious by around 2:30. The bugs were coming off by the hundreds and the fish got active QUICK.

Unfortunately the pic is out of focus but this is one of the many who made an appearance for about 45 minutes. It was great to see such activity on a wild stream on March 21st. I quickly grabbed a #16 BWO and went to work. We basically stream hopped each other as the widest point in the creek was maybe 10 feet with tons of blowdowns, laurel and anything else to prevent a man from casting. Roll cast and bow and arrow were the main tools of the day.

The hatch began to dwindle down about as quick as it began but the fish continued to cooperate and hit the dries over and over. As usual we missed many more than we landed, or at least I did. My buddy wore me out this time, I think he got upset when I worked him over a few weeks back on some native brookies. Plus, I was a little rusty and sore from the yard work...and this stream was not one to get fancy with. The blowdowns would eat you up if you thought you were gonna get fancy.

We basically finished up the day on the largest pool where a couple more made a fool of me. I had went to a dry/dropper combo due to the depth of the final pool. My indicator fly was a #12 yellow stimulator that I intended to only be an indicator. To my complete shock I missed a tremdous SMACK on the stimi. That's the novice coming back out in me I suppose. It always happens when you switch your footing or go to pick a mayfly out of your nose.

All in all it

was a great day on a great stream with a great hatch. We only fished about 1/4 of what this stream has to offer so it'll get a repeat fer sure. I suspect as we get higher we may get lucky with some brookies.