Time: 3:15PM – 4:30PM

Location: National Forest

Elk River 06/30/2026 Photo Album

Jane and I completed a long but beautiful hike on Tuesday morning, and that opened a short window for some fly fishing. The streams that we passed on our way to our hike were flowing at decent levels, so we stopped at a dirt parking lot, and I geared up and assembled my Sage R8 four weight.

Prime Lie

Once I was prepared, I hiked for .4 mile, and then I cut down a relatively steep bank to the river. Once I arrived, I realized that it was flowing above the level that I am accustomed to, when I fish this same stream in early August. The air temperature was in the low seventies, and I was rather tired after our 5.8 mile hike and the added .4 mile to my chosen river starting point.

Silvery Brook Trout

I began my quest for trout with a peacock hippie stomper, a beadhead hares ear nymph and a beadhead bright green caddis pupa. The hares ear and hippie stomper produced two small fish each in the early going, but the caddis pupa was ineffective. I only used it because it was attached to a length of tippet that I used for my final dropper section. Since the caddis pupa was not effective, I swapped it for a black sunk ant. On our hike I spotted numerous large black ants crawling on tree branches and logs, so it was a good bet that they frequently blundered into the water.

Just Above the Angled Log

The ant never produced a fish, but the hippie stomper generated quite a few refusals, so I decided to counter with a double dry set up. I retained a hippie stomper but switched to a purple body, and then I added a light gray size 14 deer hair caddis. These two flies remained on my line for the remainder of my time on the water, and I built the fish count from four to nine. Two of the last five landed fish snatched the light gray deer hair caddis, and the remainder smashed the purple hippie stomper.

Pleased with This Catch

The section of the stream that I covered was narrow with a high gradient, and this made wading quite a chore, as I was forced to scramble along the edge and in some cases bash through thick vegetation to advance upstream. After 5.8 miles on the trail, I was absolutely bushed, and I began to be concerned about my safety. I found a steep but relatively clear path that enabled me to climb the steep bank back to the hiking trail and returned to the parking lot.

Brown Trout Lair

Jane and I agreed to meet at the lot at 5:00PM, and I was a bit early, so I crossed the dirt road and hiked a short distance below the bridge. I found a nice deep shelf pool, where the stream curled along a jumble of logs, and I made a series of downstream drifts in the slow water next to the logs. On the second pass I noticed a fish that flashed at the hippie stomper, but on the third float the fish smacked the dry attractor. This fish topped off my day at nine, and it was a very fine brown trout of twelve inches.

I marched back to the parking lot, and Jane was present, so I removed all my gear, and we headed back to camp. I fished for 1.25 hour on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, and I landed nine trout. One was the twelve inch brown I just described. I also netted two shiny brook trout that probably measured ten inches. Two small browns just over six inches and four small brook trout in the six to eight inch range capped off my count. The river was higher than I was used to, and the fish were smaller, but I actually experienced decent success for only being on the stream for 1.25 hours. I would not mind returning in a couple weeks, but I suspect that will not be in the cards.

Fish Landed: 9