Time: 11:00AM – 3:30PM

Location: Special regulation area .5 miles above Waltonia Bridge

Big Thompson River 09/18/2005 Photo Album

Jane works with a guy (Ben) who has a son and daughter, and the son wanted to fly fish, so I agreed to take them fly fishing on September 18. Consequently Jane and I drove Ben, Jessica and William to the Big Thompson River. I packed my extra rods and waders, and when we arrived at the stream, I gave them casting lessons in the parking lot and showed them how to tie on a fly. Once this education was behind us, we approached the stream. I guided William in the morning, and he generated some rises, but they were either refusals or he did not react fast enough. At one point, I took the rod to demonstrate how to cast. I floated a caddis dry along the far bank, and a brown rose and slurped in the fly. I landed it and showed William how to catch and release.

Crystal Clear

After lunch, I worked with Jessica. Her casting was not very good…too much wrist, and she did not pause enough before she executed her forward cast, so the casts were piling up at our feet, and the wind was adding additional difficulty. In an effort to counter these negatives I set her up with a double nymph rig and indicator and showed her how to sling it forehand and backhand. I put a prince nymph on the top and yellow beadhead caddis pupa on the bottom. The stream was relatively low and clear, and this added even more difficulty. We approached a fairly deep run below some white water, and she hooked up with a brown (I saw it flash sideways before it came off), and then added a momentary hookup with another fish. Finally she hooked a rainbow, and she played it to the pool below us before it came off. We worked upstream farther and finally in another deep pool, she hooked and landed a nice rainbow. While wading upstream she spotted a stonefly nymph case. I assumed it washed off a rock and was there for a while. I had her hold it while I took the photo with the super macro. I think I could have focused it slightly better. I set to manual focus and hit the up arrow until it looked focused on the viewing screen.

Stonefly Nymph Case

After Jessica caught her fish, William wanted to fish again. He didn’t put the waders back on, but eventually I got him to hook up in another deeper pool upstream. William’s fish was a rainbow, and he caught it on a prince nymph. When I work with rookies, it really makes me appreciate my accumulated knowledge of fly fishing. Being able to place a cast exactly where you want it is extremely key. Also, my flies are on the water in likely areas far more than novices. I think that may be the most important factor. And of course requiring multiple casts to the target area really reduces the chances of catching a fish.

Fish Landed: 1

Don’t Let Go