Early Season Greediness

As any good fly fishing story starts out, conditions were right on track to catch a good Blue Winged Olive (BWO) hatch that day. There was no wind forecasted for the day and we were expecting good cloud cover throughout. If ever conditions were going to be perfect for a BWO hatch, this is it. The only thing that would hinder us from having an insane dry fly day was water clarity. Where we had planned to fish is a much warmer climate which tends to runoff a bit sooner than the higher elevation rivers and streams. We had heard that clarity might be a bit off, but we were hoping for the best. On our drive in we cross the river and we are able to take a good look at it. We crossed the bridge and pulled over to inspect it closer. To me and my buddy, the river looked like it had great color, given we hadn’t done much fishing all winter. It was just in between green and brown and so we decided we would give it a shot and go drop the boat upstream.

I called our other member of the crew and laid out the plan to him. He was in agreement that the river looked better than it had and today might be the best day to float given no wind. So we dropped the boat and ran a quick shuttle. As we sat there rigging our rods, we noticed a few sippers across the way in the foam. Looked like we were on track for a good day. The BWO’s were not hatching yet, but the fish were still eager to look up and sip some midges. I rigged my 4 wt in hopes of having some shots at willing fish. The boys rigged up some nymph rigs and I decided to row first and wait my turn. We watched another boat float downstream throwing streamers and slide into the eddy and recirculate the run. They continued with streamers and had no luck, so we were confident in our nymph rigs. We let them continue downstream and gain some space between us before heading out. I rowed two anglers with nymph rigs down the run and we picked up a couple fish on baetis nymphs right off the bat. We continued to see sippers on the bank. We switched so I could give my dry fly rig a shot. We approached a nice slick bank with lots of fish working the surface. I started with a double dry rig. A small BWO dry to a small midge dry. I proceeded to work these fish and had equal takes on both bugs, followed by equal misses on both bugs. I believe I missed five fish in a row before I connected and came tight. I was rusty to say the least. After coming tight with a couple fish we continued downstream in hopes the bugs would start to emerge.

At this point dry fly fishing on the run was pretty pointless unless we saw active feeding fish. I set the dry fly rod down and picked up a nymph rig. I threw one cast and one drift in a good run and watched that bobber go down and I had a fish. I immediately put that rod down and decided that it worked and wanted to put more focus on the dry. I would have to pick my battles though. We finally came up to another slick or lake water section, where we could see active feeding fish. We were head hunting!

We anchored the boat quietly and as closely as we could to the rising trout for fear of “putting them down.” As we sat and watched the fish, we quickly learned that the fish were no longer keyed in on eating midges but were getting a bit more picky. As we took a closer look at the water we noticed that BWO’s were blanketing the water and that’s what fish wanted. We caught the hatch! It’s happening right in front of us. We updated our rig to have another baetis dry fly on the back instead of a midge. We started with a Bunny Dun and had decent luck. As the hatch grew, so did we. Everyone in the boat was now fishing dries. The nymph rigs never came out again. We changed our tactics and rowed through some water we would normally nymph to access more dry fly water. We each switched between rowing and fishing, trading rods back and forth. We all were able to guide each other in to plenty of rising trout. All of us head hunting risers in the slicks along the bank and celebrating the amazing fishing with cold beers throughout the afternoon. I was fortunate to enough to even see a double eat on my dries only to hook one of them. We continued to throw dries throughout the afternoon until the hatch slowly fizzled out. Everyone was content with the fishing and at that point we just rowed to the takeout grinning ear to ear.

We decided to stay the night in hopes that the weather would hold out and we would get another shot at catching this hatch the next day. We checked weather and saw similar conditions as the first day but with increased wind. And I mean lot’s of wind was in the forecast. When we woke up the next morning, someone had already turned the fan on. We expected for it to be sporadic and maybe settle down until the afternoon. So we started a bit earlier in hopes to beat the wind. As we dropped the boat, our buddies had shown up to drop their skiff with rumors of fishing dries in March. Little did they know, this would be a long day.

We pushed off with nymph rigs in hand and wind already kicking our ass. We immediately were regretting our decision and knew we probably wouldn’t get much of a hatch today. What we didn’t know is that the wind was only going to get stronger and meaner. We completely disregarded the weather forecast and made a dumb decision with dreams of recreating the amazing fishing from the day before. It was an early season mistake and we got greedy.

Those same slicks or lake sections with all the rising trout were now war zones. With 40 mph winds heading directly upstream and creating three foot standing waves. As hard as we rowed that old drift boat we were not making much headway. At this point fishing is not even on our minds but just getting down the river safely. Each of us rowing as hard as we could, and then switching when we got tired. About the time I would regain my strength I had to switch out to row again. This was non stop. Our other boat was no where in sight and we were getting nervous. We finally got a hold of them and they said they could not gain any ground and were taking on water from the waves. They pulled over to bail the boat and take a breather. Then came the snow and sleet and rain. Now its blowing 40 and its wet. Cant get much worse.

Luckily both boats made it down to the takeout without any other problems besides being cold. We knew we should have chalked up the first day to a win, but instead we got greedy. We made a pre-season mistake that could have really cost us. I would like to say that I will never make that mistake again. I would like to say that I learned my lesson. Towards the end of that hellish day we got a small break in the wind and actually casted to some rising fish. To me, it was worth it. To say I will never do that again would be a lie. I love dry fly fishing too much to not go.

Looking back at the situation it was pretty dumb to float given the wind forecast, and I am glad we all made it safely. We got greedy and we did end up paying for it. If we hadn’t of gone then we would have never known. Now we know. Don’t get greedy!