4/11 Report

[Randall]

The holiday weekend was a great excuse to see the family and do some fishing.

When I showed up, I was really happy to see that the water was only up a little and just a bit milky from all the rain. Every river I drove over was high and muddy, so it was definitely nice to see that the water was about perfect for what I was doing. The bright bluebird sky didn't help much though, but it was a great day to be out. Overall, the fish were stingy, but with a little coaxing they'd smash a streamer.

I fished Tan Vat from 7-8, hooking 3 fish and losing them all. There were several people fishing down from there, so I just drove down to Baptist to see how that was.

I started out fishing a type 3 sink tip with a 3.9 ips sinking leader and just wasn't getting down in the fast, deep water. I did land a 14" brown on my first cast that had a hole in his back about the size of a quarter. He hit and fought hard, so I think he'll probably be okay. I switched over to a 7.0 ips leader and it made a ton of difference. I fished down, catching a few here and there, including one 16" brown that I saw bolt out of a deep bend and dive straight down on my fly. I'll tell you right now that there is nothing more exciting than seeing a fish hammer a streamer.

It was about 11 when we started seeing canoe traffic. I decided to leave at about noon to spend the rest of the day with the family. As I was walking back up, people were everywhere. I would've liked to fish longer, but I don't get to see my nieces and nephews much.

I tried to attach the picture of that injured fish but it won't let me upload it.

[Nortrad]

I had to email Dano and he posted pics until they get the site fixed. It's a blast stripping the streamers!

Nortrad

[Randall]

Ha... it worked this time... don't know what the problem was, but it let me attach a picture.

This is that brown that was hurt. Sam Potter pulled in about 2 casts after I caught it and he told me it looked like a heron strike.

[Nortrad]

That wound is a crater compared to to hole on the brown I caught.

[Randall]

Yeah, I was surprised that he seemed okay. The fact that he hit a streamer and fought hard makes me think he's he'll surive. Hopefully he'll get big... a tough fish like that would be fun when he hits the 20+ range.