Fight Fish and Drink Good Beer

Date: August 13^th

Weather: 85 degrees

Stream: Beautiful

Hatch: Tiny mayflies

Beer: The Dancing Man

            The last few weeks have been busy trying to get ahead on homework and heading to the Boundary Waters. The night before my early morning flight to Virginia, I had to get out on the river since I wouldn’t be here for a while. Another slow night, I hooked a few small ones on nymphs in my sweet spots. Other than that, it was slow for most of the evening.

            In my best spot I was nymphing a long run with little luck. I couldn’t even get a bit. However, downstream maybe twenty yards I heard rises with some consistency. For the past month there have been some tiny mayflies buzzing around, probably about a size 24. So small, you can’t see it drift and have to set the hook on feel and timing a trout’s bite. I switched to a beetle terrestrial to see what I could do. I worked my way down the stream and cast under a nice run with an overhanging branch. As the beetle drifted, I saw a flash of gold materialize out of the depth, rise slightly to investigate the beetle, angle upward and strike with a splash. It was a nice 14 inch beauty but didn’t even fight that well. 

                Construction update: progress is continuing and it looks like they are laying the structures to span the bridge foundations on both sides. It's been a blessing in disguise because I always have the river to myself which is unknown on the Kinnie. Also, everyone in Pierce County is going to vote Republican because they want to cut big government but they were only too eager for the feds to foot 70% of the bill for this tiny bridge.