Outstanding my friend, sounds like you did well. Hope you have better times today and look forward to a report tonight. BTW, how is it looking for the Sowbug ? I have changed hotels and my room at the Best Western will be available if you need it. I have new reservations at the "Town and Country" saves me some $$ that will be needed I think. Hope your line never goes slack today. Jimi
Got a chance to get out on the N. Platte yesterday afternoon. As expected, most public areas were jam-packed with fishermen, so we went to a private land spot and got permission to fish. My buddy knew the owner, and now I do, so it was already a productive day. I had been windy all day, so we brought fly boxes with a lot of 'dredging' equipment and took the long walk down to the river. My mistake. And I usually don't make that one. I should have thrown a few dries in just for good measure. We fished some runs and riffles with no success, so I got out and walked upstream until I found what I wanted. It was a fast rip area with an eddy that was backflowing. I pulled a nice 14" female rainbow out using a tandem leech and San Juan, the SJ being what she took. The sun eventually went behind a cloud and the water in the eddy suddenly erupted in tailing and swirling trout. Some were small and some had tails that would have covered my palm. The were feeding on emergers, even this early in the year. So I looked to see what they were feeding on, and it was black tricos, size 28. I now wished I had the flies with me that I've been tying for Iain's swap. But I didn't have a dry fly on me, and my buddy was a mile downriver, and his truck was locked. This is when necessity becomes the mother of invention. I found the only barely suitable fly in my box, a #10 hare's ear nymph that wasn't weighted or bead-headed. I gooped it with floatant, and presented it to a respectable slurping fish. It just barely floated, but was probably just the ticket for an emerger, though very much larger than what was in the water. Well, he grabbed it in a swirling rush and I set the hook. After a great fight, I let the 18" male slip back in. But now he had slimed up the heavy fly too much for it to float, even in the film. I tried a few other things, but they were too selective for anything else to work. And by now the wind was pretty cold and the sun had gone behind clouds permanently, so I called it day. I've spent this morning tying up a gob of emerger patterns, especially small parachute roped adams with SCB hackles. I'll be ready for them tonight. And Oh, yes, a dozen of them go to the landowner, to let me fish this great private little stretch as long as I like. :^ ) DonO
