After 3 months without a fly rod in hand it felt great to get out for the stream trout catch and release opener on Jan 1. Brian and I hit the South Branch of the Whitewater for opening morning, and as usual the river did not disappoint. The weather was in the lower 30’s, and the fish were co-operative. In a couple of hours we landed 17 nice trout. The largest fish was a nice rainbow that measured out at 16". Most fish on this day were caught on a #16 bead head pheasant tail nymph. Brian was fishing a single fly, and I fished with a hare’s ear trailed by a pheasant tail.
I was also in the Whitewater area on Sunday. The day again started out on the South Branch of the Whitewater, but with slightly different results. Sunday was much colder topping out at 15 degrees. Trout were stacked in deep holes in large numbers. The same hare’s ear pheasant tail rig caught no fish until weight was added. Once a couple of small sinkers were added five nice trout were taken. After lunch and a little warm-up I ventured over to Beaver Creek. A pheasant tail again started out hot picking up a couple of fish out of the first hole. For a change of pace I switched over to a #12 olive woolly bugger. In the next couple of holes a dead-drifted woolly bugger produced a couple more fish. All in all 11 fish total on the day.
Friday I was down at East Beaver Creek. On this day I fished a hare’s ear – hare’s ear combo. After a bunch of experimentation this is what the fish seemed to want. I had fished a good section of stream with only two fish to show for it, until I hit a good hole that produced 9 nice browns. The first was a healthy 14" leaping brown, and the last was a very thick 20" brute that made all of the waiting worth while. What a way to start out the new year!
Although plenty of fish were caught over the weekend, none of the fish came easy. On each day large sections of stream were fished with little or no results. Each day one or two holes produced most of not all of the fish. This is not uncommon in the winter. Fish stack up in a few holes in large numbers. When you find one of these holes be patient and fish it for an extended period of time. Each day I spent close to 1 hour in a given hole, and it paid dividends.