The right tool for the job

One day last week my wife called me around 3:45 p.m. to say she was being delayed at a friend's place and would not be home until late. My instinct was obviously to be productive and get things done for work/school. I promptly ignored those instincts and started working through my phone to contact my normal fishing buddies. I had four hours of free time and the summer is winding down, what do you expect?

Due to the short notice, I got a lot of "man, I'd love to, but ..." responses. I called a good buddy that knows what he's doing, but doesn't get to go out very much. He said he was good to go, so we packed up the truck and were on the road by 4:30 p.m. We decided to drive a little bit further for better water and got on our chosen beat of river around 5:30 p.m. I was going back and forth on whether to take conventional gear since my buddy was packing a spinning rod/whopper popper. I made the last second call to stick with the long rod, which ended up being the exact right tool for the job.

As we got wet, we noticed that the water was cooler than it has been since May. The water was also gin clear and running lower than it had been all year. I put on a size 6 "galaxy black" Amnesia Bug (by booglebug). This bug lacks the cupped face of a popper, so it's a little more subtle. It really slides across the surface and works well with a subtle stripping pop or a dead drift.

Screen Shot 2017-09-14 at 9.26.41 AM.png

I put my first or second cast around 10 feet from the bank in a deeper wintering spot. My buddy had already been working the whopper popper with no success on the other side of the pool. I had an eat and snapped off a 17 inch fish. I typically run a much longer leader on this river because it is gin clear, so the last 3-4 foot of my 12 foot leader was 3x (8lb). Big mistake. I snapped off another bug a couple of casts later on a tree limb. I promptly cut down my leader to 9' with the terminating tippet being 1x (13lb). I landed around 12 fish in the next 20 minutes of fishing while the conventional fisherman had a couple as well. Every single time I let that Amnesia Bug sit for more than 5 seconds, I was getting an eat. Clearly, the fish wanted a subtle presentation that was an easy meal. In the early fall/late summer you'll find fish in pods and acting spooky and lethargic all at the same time and they're in crystal clear water. This combination makes finding big fish difficult.

We then moved upstream to a spot that I know well. At the top of the next riffle is a long pool that fishes well in fall and spring. I thought I saw a tail breaking the surface on the left side, so I put my bug about 8" to the right and 15" upstream. It was a short cast since I had a good ambush point. A fish swirled and moved a lot of water, so I knew he was big. He hesitated, then three seconds later gave me an aggressive eat. I withstood probably 5 jumps and wrangled in one of my better flyrod fish this year, a 19" fatty.

We doubled up a couple of casts later with a pair of 16-17" fish as well. My buddy started getting some eats on a more subtle Fluke presentation. As we moved upstream from this spot we had been fishing for a little over an hour and I had around 25. Whatever happened next, we knew we would both be happy with our impromptu fishing trip. When fishermen like me, guys who study the sport and who work hard at being better, reach the point where they know the trip is a success, it takes a lot of pressure off.

As we moved upstream, Danny lost a monster when he ran under a rock. I think we landed a few others, but the pace was beginning to slow. We approached a slow moving spot that held depth on the right and had a couple big boulders on the left. Due to the narrowness of the river, I couldn't make a horizontal cast. So, Danny worked the right and I stayed close down the left. I caught a 16" fish that moved easily 25' in gin clear water to sip my bug. It was a top five take for me this year and I got a picture only for that reason.

We continued to move towards a spot that I know holds big fish. I was still working down the left side and placed my bug about 15' off the bank and 30' upstream from my location. I noticed some movement, then I saw the head of a fish moving towards my bug very slowly. The head was huge. I was picking up my slack as the bug floated towards me, the fish closely in tow. At this point, I still could only see the head of the fish. I kept the dead drift going, but for some reason the fish just refused it. When he swam past me downstream, I got to see his whole body... 22" of bronze at least. He was a friggin giant. I, of course, casted horizontally towards his direction of travel and got snagged in the trees. I lost my only remaining Amnesia Bug.

As we moved upstream, we had been on the water for over two hours and we had about an hour remaining. I had 30 and Danny had around 8-9 quality fish. I was now fishing a size 4 booglebug Popper in Electric Damsel (blue). At the top of this hole, the water has a lot of current flowing in. Danny was working the top and I was working the end of the pool. We both landed several quality fish out of this spot, but Danny missed a monster on a Sammy 85. As I caught up to him, I hooked another quality fish and Danny hooked one simultaneously. We ended up with another quality double (17" and 18" respectively), which was the last of the evening. I ended the night with around 40 and Danny with around 12. What a night! I will definitely be thinking about getting a glimpse of the big boy, but no complaints at all!