On Jul 21, 7:54 pm, George Cleveland
wrote:
Took my time this morning getting to the River. Gassed up the Taurus.
Picked up a couple doughnuts from the Pig. By the time I parked at the
bridge at 8 the fish were already rising.

No wind, so I pulled out the 8', 3 weight Heritage. In honor of my
first trico outing I put on a new leader, first since May. Since I was
going to start with a bigger fly (a #12 Pass Lake) I also tied on an
extra 4' of 5X tippet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0005a-1.jpg
My Trico Pattern

The fish were rising right by the bridge. Within seconds I got a taker
on the big, black fly. There was a pod of a dozen fish or so and I
probably hooked half of them before they were put down. Nothing huge
but they fought well against the little rod.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../IMG_0002a.jpg
Bridge Brookie

Fished my way upstream. Of course the wind picked up and I had to cast
into it with my floppy leader. There were bugs and risers everywhere.
The fish wouldn't move far, even for the bigger fly. But if you could
get it in their feeding lane you were o.k..

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...tion=view&curr...
Trico Feeders

I fished up through about a half mile of water. At the very tail end
of the hatch, when the splashy rises had faded to faint dimples, I
would have done better if there had been a real trico spinner on my
line (I've got a whole box of tricos in my vest). Or even if I had
tied one at end of a 2' length of 6X patched to the end of my Pass
Lake. But the thought of trying to control 15' of leader on the
little rod was too daunting to contemplate. So for the last 15 minutes
of the spinner fall I had more refusals than takes on the big fly. And
then, like a faucet shutting off, the fall stopped. Turning back, I
took an occasional trout from under bushes and in lanes in the weeds.
By 11 I was back at the car and heading home.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...MG_0007a-2.jpg
After the Fall

g.c.

Thanks, George. I always enjoy your fishing trips.