West Branch Report

I hit a few more spots upstream from Walton this evening. Stream flows are quite nice at ~500 CFS. Still a little sedimentation in the water, but clearing up fast.  The evening was cool and breezy so I got a lot of work on my side arm cast and double-haul to tuck that fly under the wind. I also spent some time fishing an area where the current was slow on the near bank, fast in the middle, and slow on the far bank where the water drained from one pool to another. To fish the seems I got a lot of practice on my aerial mends. I definitely recommend checking out Peter Kutzer's video for some tips on this:

Perhaps it was the breeze, but I didn't see much surface activity until after dusk. I fished the same patterns as Monday for the most part, though I did try my hand at nymphing with an indicator and a pheasant tail and I spent some time swinging an Adams wet fly. The nymphing didn't last long as I don't much enjoy casting the rig in the wind. Someday I will give nymphing a more thorough go. I know it is one of the most effective ways of catching trout, but I haven't had much luck with it to date. Swinging wet flies through riffles can be relaxing and easy, especially if the current makes get a drag-free float on your dry difficult.

In the end, it was a slow day for me with only a few small fingerlings and river chubs. My buddy did land a nice 13 incher on a hopper pattern of all things.