Fly Fishing: Skinny Big Hole Trout...

...for whatever reasons have been the norm (for browns and rainbows) all season long rather than the usual exceptions. The brown above is your typical early spring winter-starved version but...A couple days ago fishing the Slough Channel with our PA pals, Paul and Gretchen, we netted several, mostly browns and a rainbow or two, just as skinny. The why of this is more than I know? Theories being bandied about by local guides and experts range from "a somewhat skinny spruce moth hatch" to "not many hoppers" to "fighting all that high water" and probably a lot more I haven't heard yet. Well, maybe? Me? Like I said don't pretend to know and it could very well be just an old man's wild imagination but...time after time this season I recall muttering the same tired tune as I slipped the hook from a client's trout...pretty fish, really colored up nice but (more as an aside to self) a bit too skinny to my way of thinkin'! Hopefully before winter sets in the Big Hole will serve up whatever's needed to put some weight on, though at this stage I sure don't know what the hell that might...Better still all this really is just an old man's wild idea and all systems up there really are good to go...

Spring Tease

March 1, 50 degrees, no wind to speak of and a brand spankin new fishin license in hand to boot, well hell I'm outta here...gone fishin that is. And wonders of wonders upon arriving at my predetermined spot not another angler in sight...how good is that? Well pretty damn good actually as 2nd or 3rd cast and I'm already hooked tight to what eventually turns out a fat ol' brown trout...not so long, maybe 16-inches but unlike the snaky lookin brown the Ruby gave up the other day this sucker is fat, maybe not high-summer fat but fat enough. Better still unlike his skinny, roll over play dead cousin this one is a real scrapper...

For the next half hour or so hits are fast and furious, alas actual hook-ups are not. Blame it on reactions too long allowed to lay dormant or more likely just another painful reminder Chuck my man you just ain't gettin no younger...blame it on whatever but I just can't seem to get a good hook-set to save my sorry butt.

But like most slumps this one finally ends but...But the trout, another fat brown, is indeed foul hooked--caught by the tail I have a helluva time hauling it close enough to net and then...and then I miss. When seconds later the hook pulls out I almost feel like cheering...really.

Now it is going on 4 p.m. and the shut down is like flipping switch. Not a single bite mind you in the next three runs...Time a call it quits.