High Pressure on the Elk 8.16.08

Last week I sent an email telling every one of some new things we were going to try. One of those things is to have guest bloggers. This week we have our first Guest Blogger. Dan Sharley is a fly fisherman and water color artist http://www.dansharley.com Dan and I have fished together on several occasions and he has shown he has some excellent skills behind the fly rod as well as with a brush. I will let Dan tell the story of his day on the Elk River and after you read it, take a peek at Dan's blog at www.sharleyfishinart.blogspot.com

High Pressure on the Elk 8.16.08
I woke to rain. Not much, but rain nonetheless. Maybe it was the giddiness of the upcoming trip to the Elk with David and Anthony W, or the excitement of actually having some rainfall on my crunchy, brown lawn, but I was a little absent-minded in the morning. So much so, that I hooked up with my fishing buddies … but left my cooler – and my lunch – in the back of my truck … which was a problem, since the truck didn’t make the hour-and-a-half trip to the river.

Undaunted, and now armed with $10 worth of gas station junk food to comprise for my rations for the shore lunch (mmm, Vienna sausages and beef jerky), we arrived at our put-in destination below the dam. We joined a couple-dozen similarly-minded folks…..and, their boats. Dismayed by the crowd, but still enthusiastic for the fishing, we negotiated the conga line of canoes, johnboats and other assorted watercraft and dumped David’s Hyde drifter into the cool waters of the Elk.

The Drifter Is Prego (It's in there somewhere)

Making our way downstream, Anthony and I picked up a few rainbows on the usual flies, while David manned the oars for the first part of the trip. Later in the morning, Anthony took over for David so that the ol’ guide could throw a few loops on his off-day. Dave’s a pro in every way, and he quickly connected with several fish, including some stout rainbows. I managed to fool a few too, before rotating out and giving Anthony a chance to join the fun.

Anthony is the left-handed king of the perfect drift, but with the rain and the cold front moving off to the south, high pressure set in and made fishing pretty darn tough. As such, we spent much of the day watching Anthony’s orange indicator bob harmlessly downstream through some traditionally-fishy places. He did connect on a few, but was not fairly rewarded for his technical expertise.

We landed a fat, beautiful male brown trout after a spirited fight. The colors were classic German-brown and the fish sported some absolutely-perfect spots. After the trout was photographed (poorly) and released, fishing slowed even more. For the remainder of the float, we had to work extremely hard to get fish to bite – even through the employment of an assorted selection of perfect flies (and perfect drifts).

A Nice Elk River Brown

As always, David made the trip worthwhile, managing to continue to place us in great spots and even hook us up to the few trout brave enough to feed on this bluebird-skied afternoon. Overall though, it was another nice day on the Elk.
We’ll be back. Thanks for another great float.

Dan S.
www.dansharley.com