Nice weekend

[Stana Claus]

Just finished off a really great weekend. Spent all day yesterday (Saturday) at LRO in the Beginner's Fly-Tying class tying up some nice flies (well, the first few weren't much to look at, but I got better!) and meeting some great folks. In addition to the fly tying lessons, it was great to spend some time with Walter Babb and Brian Courtney and hear a bunch of their fishing stories. Also got to meet a couple of other forum members and put a face with a name.

Then this afternoon, my son and I made a quick trip out to the Park to fish some of those flies I tied yesterday. We hiked back in to where we've finally started having some success and spent a couple of hours on the water. The best part was I caught a nice 8" rainbow on one of the EHC's we tied in class yesterday. I missed the hook set on 4 or 5 more, and my son missed 5 or 6 himself, but at least we were getting some action. It would seem that we're doing better on our stealth, reading the water, and getting a good drift with the fly, but we still need to work on keeping the slack out of our lines and improving our reaction times.

And, if the day needed anything to make it better, on the hike back out we spotted two piles of bear poop (not too fresh!), but no bears. But still, it demonstrated the possibilities of running into a bear out there, and that adds a touch of excitement to the whole adventure.

It's going to be a tough wait for our next opportunity!

[BlueRaiderFan]

Love that sig, Stana ;) Always fun to catch one on a fly you tied. Good to hear you had a nice day with your boy.

[Knik]

Was good to meet you Stan, sounds like you did better at the tying than I did...... that was the first time this year that I drove through the park and didn't fish. Sure didn't like that part. Lol. Oh well, going to try and play catch-up the next three days.

Shannon

[elkhaircaddis]

i usually miss up to 10 times as many as i catch up there, they are uber fast. I use a short leader and that helps my hook up. I know eveyone always says to fish a big long leader for those spooky fish but when you are casting 10-15 ft into a 6 ft long run/pool, a 12ft leader wont do you much good. The short leader seems to drive the hook through their mouths better.

[Knothead]

spotted two piles of bear poop (not too fresh!),
This scientific observation proves that bears do poo-poo in the woods! Glad you were watching where you were stepping.
elkhaircaddis is correct, short leaders for small streams. I use a leader/tippet that is the length of the rod which is 6 to 7 ft.