Local

April 18, 2019

Having tasted the skunk on the last trip, it was time for some "easy" local fishing.  After being told of some intel that one of our local streams has recovered from the trout, I headed out to check on them.  I was in no hurry to get on the water so I arrived at the parking lot before noon to get ready and head down to the water.  After fishing a few "fishy" areas without any result, I focused my attention to the larger pools near the dams.  Yet even they failed to produce.  After several of promising looking holes refused to give up a fish I switched from fishing mode to scouting mode.  Had all the fish really died out form the drought?  I was I told faulty info?  I was getting a bit frustrated and after a few hours of fishing dead water I started my way out.

I had all but quit in my mind and accepted the fact I may have been hit with another skunk until I decided to try one last section toward the start of the trail that I skipped on my way in.  Making my way down to the first hole I managed a rise on my first cast.  As I stripped him in he popped off at my legs.  Moving to the next hole, I set up for a very complicated cast.  With obstructions in front of my target I needled my loop into a triangle of over hanging branches and landed my fly exactly where I wanted.  Once the fly landed the fish took and I stripped her in.  I moved up to the dam and for the next hour or so I was plucking fish out the water.  I lost four flies in poison oak that was in the path of my backcast.  I thought of pulling my flies out as they were all  bunched together in the same spot but thought better of it.  Flies are cheap and risking a rash is not worth it.  Now out of my favorite fly I tested a similar fly but tied in an unnatural and unconvincing chartreuse ice dubbed body.  It still caught fish.  I decided stop and start my exit but not before checking one last section.  I made my climb up the trail onto the water until I reached the first hole only to find a bunch of pale half naked,  fat Asians sitting alongside the bank.  After witnessing the man-boobs I had enough and I made my way back to the main trail to climb out of there.