The heat wave is still on and the river was running warm. According to Landon, morning fishing is not possible because the sun heats up the water very quickly and by 10 or 11 is too warm. Typically afternoon clouds and thunderstorms will cool the water so that by 3 or 4 pm it is more favorable. We met up with him at 1 and he took us to the Dream Stream. We could see dark clouds as we walked, thunder in the distance but we trusted that Landon knew when to leave the area.
It was an intense afternoon, rushing from spot to spot. I think Landon was determined we catch fish and didn’t know how long we would have on the river. Obviously conditions were not normal and were definitely unpredictable. Landon equates what we were doing to hunting- he spots fish and we cast out over the fish trying to entice it. I was alternating between a dry fly set up and a nymph rig, going after a fish he saw underwater. I hooked one and we went running up and downstream, following the fish, with him holding my waders so I wouldn’t fall. I felt my arm burn as I tried to hold on, keeping tension on the rod and reeling him in. Finally, we brought it in the net. It was a huge brown trout! Next it was Ray’s turn and he and Landon went racing downstream. He also caught a nice size brown.
Just as quickly as it started, the fish stopped biting and the water temperature was 72, so we ended our fishing and left. Unfortunately our 2 day booking ended up being only 2 half days, but such is fishing, you never know what weather and fishing conditions will be like.