Howard with His Grandson...From Nymphs to Dries

Howard has been aboard the drifter many times and has brought along other folks on occasion. Today he brought along his grandson and namesake Howard for some quality time. The younger Howard had fished with a fly rod before this trip, but still had a bit of a learning curve. We used some of the usual teaching methods and some bantering to get him into a groove. Although he was relatively new one the fly rod he made progress throughout the day.  Within the first 10 minutes he had missed a couple and brought fish to the net. This young man was getting some line out and getting a good mend. The fish were responding and we were making our way down the river. He was well past the rookie stage in quick manner.

Both anglers were hooking up and we had several doubles throughout the day. We hit some particularly productive waters and at one point the guys gave us the first triple of the year.   

The skies were clear and had been clear throughout the night before. The water was still stained from a previous rain, which made the fishing tough at times, but we would hit pockets of fish and could bring good numbers to the boat in short periods of time.

I had been talking to Howard about the new midges and how well they had been working. I should have just kept my lips sealed because we tried them for a short time and they produced a goose egg. That's the way it goes sometimes... It didn't take long for us to get back to the nymphs and back into fish.

We made a couple stops along the way and the guys fished a pretty good run on foot. The run gave them some good tugs and bent rods, while it tested their dead drift skills. The guys tested some flies with sharp hook sets and the fish tested their fighting abilities with fat lips.

The hours kept passing as did the miles. Soon we were starting to see a bug here and there. Big caddis, about size #12, were starting to show themselves, but I don't think any of us were ready for what we were about to see. 

We were about to float into one of the best caddis hatches of the year. This hatch rivals some of the best hatches either Howard or I have seen. The bugs were coming up the river in good numbers and were hanging around every branch that extended over the river. So we knotted up an Elk Hair Caddis,  which just happened to match in size and color. Howard made a couple casts then dropped the fly in front of a rising fish. The fly floated a short distance into the previous rise ring and then the fish rose to the fly. Howard set the hook... That hook set started the quest to catch more fish on the dry. We moved from rising fish to rising fish offering the dry while our junior Howard was bringing it home with the nymph. 

Our former rookie drifted his nymph through the last leg of the trip bringing in good numbers to too-off  the day and this pleased us all. So on this float a new angler was introduced to the river and another angler was able to get fish on his dry fly. Spending time with family on the water is quality time, definitely quality time.

To see the latest fishing report click here and for more booking information see our Homepage.  If you are a seasoned angler or have never picked up a fly rod and want to set up a day on the river just email or call/text 615-796-5143 to book a day on the water.