How many days of solid trout fishing does it take to chill out and relax a bit? For me and Pops it took three days fishing for 8 hours before I suggested that for day 4, we fish a bit in the morning, go back to camp and chill, eat an earlier dinner and then hit the water around 6:30 or 7:00. That may have been my favorite day. That afternoon in the campground was incredibly relaxing—and pretty much empty, as everyone was off fishing or swimming or riding quads. It was this relaxing:
My dad—Pops—and I have done this trip in 2019, 2021 and 2022 now. We almost went somewhere different this year, fearing higher water would make wading difficult. Dad is 81 after all. Well Pops still kills it on the ol’ trout stream, a dry fly fanatic like his son. In a week of fishing, we just don’t get tired of catching 12-15” cutts on dries. It’s fun! There’s also the occasional 16” fish and I caught one 17”. (Pops gave me a net with measurements which I kind of have mixed feelings about!) There may be larger in the system but I am not sure they take dries.
We do eat well out there. Lamb chops, pork chops, chicken fajitas, asparagus, broccoli, salads and of course Pops’s’s famous hash browns were all on the menu. One morning I had a BEC for breakfast and the B wasn’t bacon. No sir. It was Braunschweiger, Egg, and Cheese. Stuff you don’t make when your wife is home.
There were all kinds of hatches, but we mainly caught our fish on caddis variations, lots of of elk hair and CDC, and I did some damage with a parachute fly as well. Nothing too big—16s and 14s seemed to be preferred. In addition to many caddis of various sizes, there were PMDs about, some drakes, plenty of small green and some yellow sallies. I struggled a bit at first right off the bat, just wasn’t my morning I guess, and tried big flies like golden stones (which were around but not exactly abundant) and even nymphs. None of that sh*t worked. They wanted little dries, so far as we could tell. As soon as I settled into the small fly groove, helped a lot by installing a fresh 4x leader, which I often knotted to an EHC of either tan or black, with 18” of 5x off of that to my little loop-wing CDC emerger. Dang they like that fly!
This spot here was loaded with fish last year and loaded with fish this year. Nice ones, too. They just stack up in there. I think I found something with this.
What else? Rescued a rubber boa from the road.
I was wandering upstream, for some reason thinking about the mongoose all over the Hawaii big island, and stumbled on an otter carcass.
I also noticed a bunch of freshwater mussels again, in various spots, some pretty dense and extensive beds. Western pearlshells. Cool critters.
Lots of tiger swallowtails around. Also plenty of mosquitoes at times and horseflies. Ohhhh those horseflies.
There’s a patch of clover by the water spigot in camp that has lots of 4, 5, even 6+ leaf clovers. We noticed it in 2019 and it remains. Gotta love things like that. Need some good luck? Go over yonder by that there spigot. Find you a 4 leaf clover. Done.
We hit a smaller trib one day. That was fun. Not the numbers of the main, but nice fish, you might have to work them a bit, but nice fish from holes like this, was a fun change of pace.
The little bit higher water than in the past was not a problem. It helped the tribs, and it didn’t hurt the fishing on the main. And flows were dropping all week, noticeably at spots we fished early and then returned to at the end. The vegetation, flowers and whatnot appeared to be about 2-3 weeks behind what we’ve seen this week in July in the past. It was beautiful. Water temps were in the 50s and the riverine wetlands were loaded with life, including juvenile fish. You can zoom in to see those baby trouts.
There have been some amazing, exotic reports on here lately, which I very much appreciate! This one is pretty vanilla—a guy and his dad go camping and catch trout for a week. I could add more in a follow up if folks want more of this but it won’t be all that different and certainly not as cool as DIY Hawaiian bones or Northern Saskatchewan pike. What can I say, it’s special to me. Hope you enjoy the pics and report from a beautiful place!
My dad—Pops—and I have done this trip in 2019, 2021 and 2022 now. We almost went somewhere different this year, fearing higher water would make wading difficult. Dad is 81 after all. Well Pops still kills it on the ol’ trout stream, a dry fly fanatic like his son. In a week of fishing, we just don’t get tired of catching 12-15” cutts on dries. It’s fun! There’s also the occasional 16” fish and I caught one 17”. (Pops gave me a net with measurements which I kind of have mixed feelings about!) There may be larger in the system but I am not sure they take dries.
We do eat well out there. Lamb chops, pork chops, chicken fajitas, asparagus, broccoli, salads and of course Pops’s’s famous hash browns were all on the menu. One morning I had a BEC for breakfast and the B wasn’t bacon. No sir. It was Braunschweiger, Egg, and Cheese. Stuff you don’t make when your wife is home.There were all kinds of hatches, but we mainly caught our fish on caddis variations, lots of of elk hair and CDC, and I did some damage with a parachute fly as well. Nothing too big—16s and 14s seemed to be preferred. In addition to many caddis of various sizes, there were PMDs about, some drakes, plenty of small green and some yellow sallies. I struggled a bit at first right off the bat, just wasn’t my morning I guess, and tried big flies like golden stones (which were around but not exactly abundant) and even nymphs. None of that sh*t worked. They wanted little dries, so far as we could tell. As soon as I settled into the small fly groove, helped a lot by installing a fresh 4x leader, which I often knotted to an EHC of either tan or black, with 18” of 5x off of that to my little loop-wing CDC emerger. Dang they like that fly!
This spot here was loaded with fish last year and loaded with fish this year. Nice ones, too. They just stack up in there. I think I found something with this.
What else? Rescued a rubber boa from the road.
I was wandering upstream, for some reason thinking about the mongoose all over the Hawaii big island, and stumbled on an otter carcass.
I also noticed a bunch of freshwater mussels again, in various spots, some pretty dense and extensive beds. Western pearlshells. Cool critters.
Lots of tiger swallowtails around. Also plenty of mosquitoes at times and horseflies. Ohhhh those horseflies.
There’s a patch of clover by the water spigot in camp that has lots of 4, 5, even 6+ leaf clovers. We noticed it in 2019 and it remains. Gotta love things like that. Need some good luck? Go over yonder by that there spigot. Find you a 4 leaf clover. Done.
We hit a smaller trib one day. That was fun. Not the numbers of the main, but nice fish, you might have to work them a bit, but nice fish from holes like this, was a fun change of pace.
The little bit higher water than in the past was not a problem. It helped the tribs, and it didn’t hurt the fishing on the main. And flows were dropping all week, noticeably at spots we fished early and then returned to at the end. The vegetation, flowers and whatnot appeared to be about 2-3 weeks behind what we’ve seen this week in July in the past. It was beautiful. Water temps were in the 50s and the riverine wetlands were loaded with life, including juvenile fish. You can zoom in to see those baby trouts.
There have been some amazing, exotic reports on here lately, which I very much appreciate! This one is pretty vanilla—a guy and his dad go camping and catch trout for a week. I could add more in a follow up if folks want more of this but it won’t be all that different and certainly not as cool as DIY Hawaiian bones or Northern Saskatchewan pike. What can I say, it’s special to me. Hope you enjoy the pics and report from a beautiful place!
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