Must have learned a couple of things yesterday from my guide Randy. Set my rig up the way he recommended and fished flies he picked out for that stretch of the river. A little farther down the river and different flies are recommended. Found a good place to stand, maybe two feet deep. If I cast 15 feet towards either bank or downstream, it was a foot or two deeper. There were active fish in these runs.
The lighter point way left center was where I was standing.
Caught one of the big rainbows I had been looking at for days, and several other fish a little smaller. It took a good 15 minutes to land the big one. The last two feet of my leader, called tippet, was 6x. It’s 3.5 pound test. Have to let bigger fish do what they want until they tire, but don’t get them so tired that you kill them. They liked this fly.
This one hasn’t been used. It still has the barb. Barbs aren’t allowed. You have to pinch them down with a tiny, flat needle nose pliers. It’s a good thing cause I buried one in my finger. Came right out with no pain.
Guides are good for more than fishing . Randy told me Abe’s Restaurant made good enchiladas and good red sauce. He was right.
The drift boat we used to float the river yesterday.
Kind of funny. I think I mentioned several days ago that it is illegal to move your feet around and then fish downstream because you dislodge insects and big trout collect just downstream of your feet. Randy said it’s called “The San Juan Shuffle”