Fishing Report - Upper River 10-23-06

[Ted Calcaterra]

Got to the river around 8:30 Sunday morning and suprisingly had it almost to myself. I only saw and talked with one other fisherman. The fall colors appeared to be in peak season and the weather was great. I started the day throwing some deer hair sculpin patterns that a good friend taught me how to tye. I wanted to do some experimenting and try and catch a larger fish. I thought with the recent rains, the river might be up a bit with some color. Perfect for throwing streamers. However, the river appeared close to normal for this time of year. I caught one small brown on the streamer.

I then noticed how many big browns I saw in skinny water exibiting spawning behavior. I counted 5 fish well over 20" and many in the 17-20" slot. Switched over to a small peach colored egg pattern and did very well. I couldn't get those big boys in the skinny water to take the fly but did catch some brusiers in the deeper riffles and runs. I think those fish had other things on their mind other than eating and I wasn't going to harrass them for to long. The fish I caught were very healthy and colorful. I only fish egg paterns in the fall when trying to match the hatch. For whatever reason, they worked well.