Date: January 6, 2023
Time: 3:00PM - 4:00PM
Weather Conditions: Overcast with light to moderate rain
Water Conditions: Murky, high, fast flowing water
The water was higher and more turbulent than normal. The flows tumbled over boulders and crashed along the banks.
I started with a futsu and cast into the slower pockets, not expecting any trout to risk darting through the swift current for a fly. Placing the kebari into the flows to try to sink it wasn’t producing any results either.
After a few casts I changed to a large sakasa kebari hoping that the design would help to get the fly a little lower in the column and closer to a fish. I drifted the fly at the edge of the seams several times, but still wasn’t able to get the fly to a depth that I felt was close enough to the strike zone.
Once again I switched flies, this time to a large, heavy kebari with a more noticeable profile. This one had worked well for me in the past in similar water conditions. Casting the kebari into the flows, I was able to get it to drop below the swift current. With each cast I let it drift lower and lower until I could feel it hitting the rocks at the bottom, then backed off a little bit as I guided the fly through different pathways in search of a hungry trout.
I felt a small bump followed by a brief pause in the line. I pulled the rod tip to the side a bit and felt a wriggle in the line. A second setting motion confirmed it was a fish.
I swung the fish out of the current and toward the bank where I quickly snapped a picture, removed the hook, and placed the brown trout back into a slower patch of water.
This was my first catch of 2023, but my only catch for the day.
