Looking For Big Fish in All the Wrong Places: Big Fish Continue to Rise on Dream Stream

This time of year, on the dream stream, the crowds go after the big Browns that run up out of 11 mile reservoir. Most fly fishers are chucking heavily weighted nymphs and fishing down to the monsters that are laying low.  While sight fishing, we are looking "down," and this is exciting, but maybe we should try looking "up."

This morning, once again  there was a heavy Trico hatch that brought the fish up on top. I put aside my nymphing rod and fished to large rising Rainbows, Cutthroats and Cut-bows. I landed several heavy fish over 20 inches. It felt "right" to fish on top since that was where they were and they were actually eating. It also felt right to match the hatch and make a nice delicate dry fly presentation to fish I could see actively feeding. Dry fly fishing captures (for me) the essence of fly fishing and often embraces a different etiquette.  Sometimes, I just get tired of chucking lead and weighted flies to fish that are preoccupied.  

It is also common knowledge that there are a lot of little dinks that are rising. Yes, most of the rising fish are small, but in their midst you will sometimes hear a "slurp and a gulp" that is NOT made by a small fish. Cast to those gulpers and you may be rewarded for looking for the big fish in all the right places. 

I may sound like a "dry fly purest," but I am not. I get excited chasing BIG Browns, or, for that matter, any big fish laying low. However, right now, it just seems that there are more anglers than Big Browns in the river. It looks like every section of river has 50 anglers to one fish. It gets and looks to be a bit ridiculous. Sometimes I picture those big Browns "ducking" every time we throw our weighted nymphing rigs over them. 

What do we do?  Can we close off the river during the spawning runs?  This is probably not going to happen even though many would support it. Perhaps, when we do find big fish, we can at least learn to observe what they are doing. Are they feeding? Are they actively spawning? We can consider their beauty.

Whether the fish are rising or laying low, we could at least "go easy" on them. How many fish does it take to satisfy?  Do we have to keep on casting and casting; dredging and dredging, hour after hour? Even while dry fly fishing during a trico hatch, how many fish does a angler have to hook before enough is enough?

Even as I ask these questions I am aware that this approaching cold front bringing rain and snow might bring a surge of  big fish up the drainage. Who knows? And maybe the cold will keep some of the crowds away but I doubt it.  We can always look. We can look up and we can look down and hopefully, regardless of what we find, we can find that place inside of us that can be more easily satisfied.