Why do so many of us hold small stream fishing so closely to our hearts? Is it the solitude? Perhaps the willingness of most small stream fish to eat our favorite dries? How about the sheer quantity of fish that can be had in some small streams? Streams where a twelve incher is a trophy?
I'd have to say that it's just the whole package for me. I had a couple days of guiding cancel on me here in Gunnison and I was about as excited as I've been in a long time to go hit a stream that I knew I'd have to myself. During the hour or so drive I began to get super psyched just to have an afternoon alone and to be heading to a creek that I knew would hold brookies and rainbows on nearly every cast.
I figured that I'd do a little fly testing and I threw one dry fly the whole time, a foam mayfly idea that I have high expectations for. After a slight color tweak the fly will be off to Idywilde for review and will hopefully join the rest of
my flies in their lineup. Turns out that I didn't even need to bring my fishing pack as I fished that one fly all afternoon. I could have just brought along my dry shake and I would have been good to go. After what seemed like well over a hundred fish on one fly I felt content and I knew that there was a warm Tecaté on the back seat of my truck waiting for me. I called it a successful afternoon and was on my way back just as psyched as I was before making that first cast.
Why do so many of us hold small stream fishing so closely to our hearts? Is it the solitude? Perhaps the willingness of most small stream fish to eat our favorite dries? How about the sheer quantity of fish that can be had in some small streams? Streams where a twelve incher is a trophy?
I'd have to say that it's just the whole package for me. I had a couple days of guiding cancel on me here in Gunnison and I was about as excited as I've been in a long time to go hit a stream that I knew I'd have to myself. During the hour or so drive I began to get super psyched just to have an afternoon alone and to be heading to a creek that I knew would hold brookies and rainbows on nearly every cast.
I figured that I'd do a little fly testing and I threw one dry fly the whole time, a foam mayfly idea that I have high expectations for. After a slight color tweak the fly will be off to Idywilde for review and will hopefully join the rest of my flies in their lineup. Turns out that I didn't even need to bring my fishing pack as I fished that one fly all afternoon. I could have just brought along my dry shake and I would have been good to go. After what seemed like well over a hundred fish on one fly I felt content and I knew that there was a warm Tecaté on the back seat of my truck waiting for me. I called it a successful afternoon and was on my way back just as psyched as I was before making that first cast.
