What an evening! I feel like I've been in a trance for the last two hours. It was 95 degrees at 5:00 PM. The water was low and as clear as gin. I had to be super sneaky. It seems ridiculous, but it takes a lot more energy to move slowly and with no noise. To roll no rock under your foot, to splash no water, to not trip on a long mat of moss or stumble on some unseen snot-slick boulder requires more energy and muscle than to wade more casually. But absolute silence and stealth are essential for success with big fish especially under these conditions. If you fail, even for a a moment, and make a mistake, you've likely blown an entire riffle and its runout. In these clear water conditions, it's easy to know when you've blown it. A 20+ inch brown or rainbow hightailing it for a weed mat or sprinting for the next run downstream drops your shoulders and pulls a quiet "shit!" from your lips!
I raised two fish tonight... two fish in two hours... only two. There were no other swipes or rises or heart stopping misses. Only two swirls in two hours. Both fish were 22". Both were deep strong males. Both required a curve cast around a bend to a deeply cut bank upstream. Both ate like assassins! Both were all worth the effort... worth the attention to silence.
I love big browns... I love big bugs!
