There's Always Somewhere To Fish

There are certain things that annoy me in life. Other people, the Ravens, the Flyers, Spin Fisherman, Bait Fisherman...yep....all annoying. But nothing annoys me more then when my plans get screwed up because of weather. I'm an optimistic person, but I battle with my optimism when stream flows aren't somewhat manageable. The days leading up to my excursion on the water were filled with thoughts of big fish and high numbers. The drive down was no different, but as I rounded the turn and the stream came into sight, my eternal optimism got sucker punched by Mother Nature.......

Class IV White Water 

While rigging up I tried to push the annoyance away. Mentally, I started rehearsing the game plan for the day. High Stick the calm water breaks near the bank, and if you can....midstream structure. That's where fish will be in these high flows. My optimism punched back and I was ready to show Mother Nature a Latrobian doesn't back down from challenges. Eager and willing to get my ass beat by the raging water, I got to work. The first section of water produced a few fish in the likely holding lies. A few on the bank, and a few behind big boulders. It took me about an hour and a half to properly fish the section of water that was only a few hundred yards long. My optimistic outlook was paying off. Then.....the flows went up. I notice right away while fishing the next section. The pocket water turned into class IV whitewater. Mother Nature had another round in her. And the eternal optimist backed down and walked away feeling defeated.

There's Always Somewhere To Fish

I could of called it quits for the day, but a small feeder stream popped into the corner of my eye and I decided to give it a try.  What would seem to be a small trickle in the summer months now resembled a decent size freestone stream. A quick walk up the trail and I stumbled across a nice plunge pool. I crouched down and threw my nymph's to the top of the run. Wham! It wasn't a 20 inch wild brown trout, but the small native brookie that came to hand felt just as rewarding. A few more fish were taken with nymph's, but that wasn't what today was about. Today was about staying ahead of Mother Nature and not letting her knock you out. No matter how hard it rains, or how muddy the streams get.......there's always somewhere to fish.

Mountain Stream Native