Hit Deckers from 8am-noon today. Stopped in Flies and Lies Outfitter in the town of Deckers to inquire about what patterns to use this time of year. Danny Brennan recommended Hares's nymphs (size 16) Palamino midges (dropper, sizes 18-22, Ju Ju Baetis (size 20-22), Stone Flies (size 14), and small black midges.
Used a size 22-24 Black Beauty trailing a size 16 Hare's Ear nymph on one rod (this outfit caught the most fish today), and a size 18 Palamino midge trailing a size 12 Golden Stone Fly on the second setup. Not many fish looking up; mostly feeding in the surface film or deep.
All in all, this was a short but very productive outing in Deckers. Landed 5, lost none. Same spots as usual. 5x leader, 6x tippet, no weight as most of the attractor nymphs were beaded.
Just committed to fish the Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers with a friend in August. I have never been to Montana and I'm stoked about this trip. World famous.
Per recommendation of Danny Brennan of Flies and Lies fly shop in Deckers, I tried a new nymph-dropper combo this day. I fished a size 20-22 Sparke Midge Emerger (silver/tan) behind a size 14-16 Golden Stone Fly in a weightless configuration. Used approx. 18" flouro tippet (6X) behind a 9' 5X flouro tapered leader. Fished run 1/4mi. down river from large hill. Also fished deep run 100yds upstream and hooked up with a gorgeous rainbow that took the stone fly out of the surface film immediately upon impact. It was great to see a big girl with her nose up, taking dry flies this early in the season. Once she was hooked, she ran like a freight train and my 5X tippet couldn't get her to turn. One of these days this hook-and-lose-a-trophy fish saga will terminate.
Began fishing at 8am and fished until 1pm. Landed two nice 18-20" fish and had three separate opportunities with 24-27" monsters. Two came unhooked, one broke me off (see video). Lesson learned, I need a larger net as I could have likely landed two of these fish with a larger net with longer handle. Time to invest in a new net. The feeling of hooking, seeing, and then losing three fish that would have each been a personal best is both saddening yet it heightens my addiction to this awesome sport.
Enjoy the videos!
This one didn't get away.
25" fish hooked well, fought, lost while trying to net. Video 1
25" fish hooked well, fought, lost while trying to net. Lady who was cheering me on from the shoreline offered to take control of the camera. When she stepped into the water so I could hand it to her while fighting the fish, her black Lab decided to join the fun. Video 2
Golden Stone Fly (size 14-16) and Tan Sparkle Midge Emerger (size 20-22)
Had to go to Austin for business travel, so Robert, Dad, and I took a guided trip to Choke Canyon reservoir the prior weekend. The guide picked us up at the house in SA at 5am, and we were on the water ready to go at 7am. The motor-keeper was stuck since the trim switch went out on the boat, so we had to cut/splice a few wires to bypass the trim switch and we were quickly in action.
The first stop was a nice sandy point we clued into after seeing birds picking bait fish off the surface. The bass were obviously schooling up the shad near the bank of a sandy island, and several long dropoffs offered excellent topwater and spinnerbait fishing. Robert quickly caught the first fish of the trip and began to rub it in. The guide took a couple on topwater plugs.
Soon thereafter, Dad and I both landed our first fish (also on white/chartreuse spinnerbaits) after giving up on the slow topwater bite. We proceeded to catch 2-3 fish each in this area. No 10lb'ers though...all in the 2-3lb range.
We then fished a couple of coves on the edge of creek channels. The guide managed to land a few fish, but we had no luck.
Soon thereafter, we visited another island in the middle of the lake. Robert continued to rock and roll with his white spinner bait. One fish took one of his blades clean off the bait, so he inspected the lure...threw it back in and BAM...a 4lb'er. He caught several nice 2-4lb males in the middle of the lake at this island while Dad and I tested our luck with various stypes, sizes, and colors of Carolina-rigged plastics, Boogiebaits, and crankbaits. The guide caught one fish on a Chatterbait.
We finished the day at an area where some late spawners were bedding. Dad, the guide, and I switched up to Texas-rigged soft plastics and Carolina-rigged 8", dark orange lizards. The lizards proved to be the killer bait. We began landing fish, after fish, after fish. At one time, Dad and I had doubles. As he landed his very fat 5lb'er, I hooked up with what felt to be a giant. She ran straight behind the boat near the prop. I tried to turn her head but she wrapped me around a sunken tree. The guide was smiling and joking about how that was my long-desired 10lb'er. Even though she was wrapped around the tree, she continued to tug at my line, putting full flex on my 7ft. St. Croix casting rod. ::sigh:: After several minutes trying to break her free, we cut the line.
Robert continued to slay fish on his spinnerbait. Dad and I continued to catch several on the lizards. This particular spot was such a nice ambush spot for both the males (building beds) and females (10ft. behind the beds). We continued to cast lizards onto the top of the point and slowly drug them away from the shore. Just as you thought it was time to retrieve and recast, fish would attack the bait with extreme aggression. We must have landed +18 fish all on this nice long point.
Just as Robert landed another healthy 5lb female, we saw a 7-8lb big girl jump and shake in the same area where I lost my giant. The guide joked that he could still see the line on the fish and that it was trying to break free from the tree. We trolled closer and I got the net ready for her second jump. It didn't happen. We backed off and continued to fish when she jumped again, this time breaking herself loose from the tree. It was good closure to see the size of that whale that I lost, but it was equally frustrating to know that she was a lost opportunity.
We finished off the day catching a few more fish off this point, counted +30 fish that Robert, Dad, and I successfully caught and released, and decided to call it.
What a blowout outing to remember! Nothing beats a great trip on the lake with family, rods bent all day long.
Props to Robert for catching the FIRST fish, LAST fish, MOST fish, and BIGGEST fish. He had an A+ performance.
Robert with his smallest fish of the day!
I get excited after seeing my 7lb'er jump and grab the net in preparation for a second jump. Fat chance.
Dad brings in a big girl. This was a close second for largest fish of the day.
Nice sunny day in Deckers. Highs of 55deg, winds 10-15mph. On the water from 8:30am-noon. Tough day of fishing. I only caught one one a egg-dropper (palamino midge).
View of the river downstream 1mi from Wigwam club. Great camp sites.
The only rainbow that decided to take on this blue sky day.
Testing a deep run.
Deckers is a scenic area with lots of cool rock formations.
Fence line of the WigWam Club. Most exclusive private fly fishing club in the world.
Yellow/Orange (worked best), Pink/Red, or plastic orange (Alaska style) Egg (size 14-16) trailed by Palamino Midge (size 18)
This day turned out being a trophy rainbow fest. I now understand why Deckers, CO gets so much hype over large population of trophy fish. Three rainbows netted in just over 3hrs that were all +20". All were caught on an egg-palamino midge dropper setup on 5X leader with 6X tippet. The ambient temp was approx. 20deg when I hit the first riffle around 8am.
At 9:30am, I hooked up with a 25" SLAB and took video footage of the fight and landed fish. See below! This experience taught me the convenience of a GoPro camera with a chest mount. It's tough to finesse a large fish on a fly rod while trying to capture video footage with the left hand! In the end, I'm glad I took the risk as this is not just another "fish tale."
Went up river soon thereafter but had to cut the day off short due to 30mph wind gusts that made casting nearly impossible.
Video 1 - The Fight
Video 2 - Landing the 25" Beast. Largest fish netted to-date in CO.
This is the location of the run where I caught the 25" beast along with another fat 20"er within 20min apart. 9:00am MST.
Another fatty.
Girth!
Gorgeous colors.
Yellow/orange Egg (size 14-16) trailed by Palamino Midge (size 18)
Invested in a new fly rod and reel, so it was time to go do the test drive somewhere near the house. The S. Platte in Deckers was a perfect spot, as it's 1hr from the house. The highlight of the day was the drive home when Christi spotted a bald eagle flying into the trees from the river. We stopped and took photos but there wasn't much light so they blurred. Now we are on the hunt to photograph another bald eagle near Deckers. Evidently, there are lots of recent reports of several adults feeding in this area before they migrate north.
General notes: My medium-fast action 4pc., 5wt. Scott A3 with Lamson Guru 2 reel feels just right with weight forward GPX line. The action of this setup is fast enough to really throw line far, yet it's agile enough to allow for very accurate casts. I think it's going to be a perfect all around tailwater nymphing and fall dry fly outfit. It's nice to be able to roll cast now (my old noodle rod made roll casting very difficult). I deliberated a lot between this Scott, Sage, and G. Loomis for the new rod. After casting several rods: Sage (Z-axis, Flight, and TCX), the G. Loomis (StreamDance GLX), and Scott (A3 and G2)... the A3 was the easy winner based on performance for the buck. Thanks to Colorado Skies Outfitters for their offer for free fly line along with this rod/reel purchase. Discounts are not common with fly gear.
Bald eagle. This doesn't do the size of this bird justice whatsoever.
