Charlie and I fished the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River last evening.
The river is in great shape and running pretty clear. Lots of caddis in the
bushes and some mayflies popping off in the afternoon.
I was excited to try a fly I've been working on. It is foam-bodied,
bullet-head, madam X styled fly. (A variation on a foam Rogue River
stonefly.) It's a cross between a stonefly and a grasshopper.
Charlie asked what I was going to call it. How about a "Stoned Hopper?,"
says I. How about Dennis Hopper says Charlie. I know, I'll call it an "Easy
Rider."
Anyway, I tied several up with yellow, red and white foam bodies. The
great news is all worked in fooling many of the bright cutthroat trout in
the Middle Fork. I caught many with the biggest pushing 11 inches. I missed
way more than I caught including some larger fish. I was pulling the
trigger too fast. But it is hard not to jerk the hell out of the rod
sometimes. I also missed several on long distance casts due to too much
slack in the line...
I also ran a double dry fly rig with an elkhair caddis off the bend of the
hook of the easy rider. Caught several on it as well. I think that now that
the river is down, these cutts are hungry and just about any fly that looks
tasty will produce. (So this may not be the best test for my new fly.) I
also ran a glassbead green caddis nymph off the Easy Rider and that caught
several as well.
I have a scanned photo of the Easy Rider if anyone is interested in seeing
it. Email me off list and I will send it to you. I haven't worked up a
recipe for it yet, but will do so in the next day or so. I will post it to
the waflyfishers list if anyone wants a copy of it.
Hope you all can get out and fish...
Danny McMillin
