Dry Run

It's been one of the nicest springs I can ever remember in NJ.  It seems every day is in the upper '60s, with sun and low humidity, except for the occasional rainy day, which keeps the water levels up.  Magnificent!  It's a pleasure to be only partially employed at times like this.

Next Tuesday, I'm taking out two fisherfolk who "won" my services at charity silent auction.  The goal is to teach them small stream fishing.  I decided to check out (once again) my favorite stream, so I could work out flies and check out current conditions.

It turned out to be a somewhat challenging day, with gusty winds originating upstream making casting with my light rod adventurous at times.  Fly selection also turned out to be slightly tricky, only in that the smaller fish seemed to be locked into some sort of tiny midge, which I couldn't see.  Fortunately, the bigger fish seemed happy to rise to my parachute adams.

I caught this lovely brown on the first structure I fished (note: all fish were successfully released after photography).

The last fish of the day was this "giant" rainbow.  Don't know if it's obvious, but this is a genuine 12" fish, which is enormous for these streams.  He was holding in the deep trough between the two boulders...