Headwater Bushwackin'

With only hours to go before standing in the firing line of my cousin's wedding, I managed to sneak out for a few hours to the headwaters of one of my favorite streams. This section is tough, with super cagey fish and very tight places...but it's worth it. Three of us made the trip up, anxious to sling some dry flies and try some new sections of this stream. The campers and hikers were out in abundance but thankfully we didn't see any other fisherman. It's always a shock to see so many campers and hikers that don't fish, not that I mind or anything...

As you can see in the next picture it would probably help if I read the local news from time to time. I miss the very local goings on...like rock slides. You see, I live in one county but work in another, so I tend to read the paper from the county I work in. But, this dandy little rock slide didn't keep a worn out Ford and a very worn out Toyota from fishing. Heck, I'm sure I coulda locked the hubs and climbed that sucker if I needed to...agree?

The three of us decided to slipt up. I took the top section and the two of them played hopscotch on the lower section. Upon tying on an elk hair caddis and making my first cast I was rewarded with a surprise...a nice 7" brookie. A brook isn't very rare for this creek but fairly rare as mostly browns and rainbows call it home. I was seconds from a picture when he escaped me. As we all know when the first cast is easy and you think, "Man, this is going to be an excellent day", most often it turns out to be a bust. This wasn't exactly true but the fishing was very difficult for my eight foot sage. If I had any brains I would leave my little 6 footer in the truck for such a dance as this one but I'm a dofus and I love my sage. Cheating on her hurts sometimes.

At the end of the day as I worked my way as high as you could possibly fish, numerous trout were landed and my partner in crime pulled a super nice brown from a very unlikely spot just above a well used camping area...with campers in it. We were happily shocked.

I normally never loose but a fly or two but this stream, I should say, this stream's laurel took many a fly from me this day. I went monkey on a couple to get them back. For some stupid reason I've taken up tying my own flies, I guess now I can afford to loose a couple...???...