Annual Trip

[Fly_Guy]

Greetings all - a bunch of friends from KC and I went down to RR last Mon - Wed. Water back to near normal - still a touch hazy when compared to typical summer clarity, but not enough to notice. Whistle blew at six thirty, and my wife and I had 17 and 20 fish respectivly, before nine oclock Monday. Fished the first 10 min. with black rooster tails, and went to white Gulp power eggs. Couldn't keep em off the eggs. One thing that I would implore everyone to do is pinch down the barbs on their hooks when fishing with powerbait (if you plan on releasing the fish). the trout usually nearly swallow powerbait, and small, barbless hooks make it super easy to release the fish without damage. Also, I've found that using one Gulp brand egg is sufficient (many people like two eggs on one hook). To remedy this (and avoid using my precious eggs) I usually find a discarded egg on the side of the river and pair it with my Gulp egg. I used a Rebel Crickhopper in zone one as well, to general success. As far as flies go, dries were starting to pick up. Normally at this time in the summer, the water is a bit slower, and fishing dries is easier, but I found that there was a fish in nearly every hole rising when i started flying around midday. Used an #18 deerhair caddis (because I didn't have any elkhair in my kit), and a #22 black ant. Picked up most fish on the ant. Later went to Tim's shoppe and bought a couple of black foam beetles. (If you are planning a trip to RR, visitng Tims Fly Shop should be included in your schedule - an amazing little fly shop, and Tim is happy to give advice)

Anyway, fished down in catch and release zone 2 for a while, and caught fish on the foam beetle, a neon green san juan worm, and one on a #18 brown scud. I talked to a few fishermen there who had had very good luck drifting a red san juan worm, above a pheasant tail. Zone one was quite crowded, so if you are a fly fisherman, I would recommend going down river if you are looking for any form of solitude. Our whole group stayed in the cabins and a couple of rooms at Roaring River resort - and a good time was had by all. The guys all had a Star Wars marathon (one movie per night), keeping up with the tradition we started last year with Lord of the Rings, and to be continued next year with either Pirates of the Carribean, Spiderman, or three Bond movies. We haven'd decided yet. Good luck y'all!