Sunday, December 4, 2011

Short Report

Who said it was going to be warm today?  It wasn't warm, but it wasn't real cold either, but the water sure was!  I spent the day fishing the South Branch of the Raritan with Lou DiGena, and we did pretty well considering the conditions and the fact that I froze my ass off.

The day was fairly bright, with the sun mostly tempered by high thin clouds.  It did break free of them every so often to warm the hands and face.  The air was in the upper 40's, and the river was somewhat high, clear as gin, and 42 degrees.  Yep, it was a day we needed thermal pants and dry feet, and Lou had them, and I did not.  I forgot my thermoply pants, and my right foot was mostly wet thanks to leaking waders.  Still, we fished a good 5 hours or so and had a good time bringing some nice fish to net.  We fished a very rocky section of the river, and the high water made it tough to wade, especially with my cold, stiff legs.  Almost took a swim more than once!

We caught all rainbows, some decent sized ones, and all of them fought hard.  I got mine on bead head Bird's Nest, LaFontaine Sparkle Emerger, and one on Walt's Worm.  Hooked a couple on the Pumpkin Head, but none came to net.  Lou was using a Czech nymph set-up with three flies, and the only one I can remember he got fish on was the Bomb.  It's big, gnarly gold bead caddis larva tied on a #8 scud hook - I guess Lou's trout wanted big and ugly today!  He got some photos and perhaps he'll post some on his blog - Fly and Fin - link on the right----->

Nothing like fly fishing for trout in December.....and catching fish!

1 comment:

Hacklebarney Jimmy said...

Matt,
How long do you like to give a certain pattern a go before you move on to another one?
Are there any factors to what you decide to go with when nymphing in colder weather when the patterns arent as obvious?