When I woke up at 6:00 am in the morning, in Mammoth California to see the “sunny” climate that the weather channel had promised; I was surprised to find out that it was snowing. Regardless, I was pumped up to fly fish. My father, my brother and myself hopped into the truck and made our way our down to a creek that we like to fish. We have fished this creek in the summer and we are almost always expecting to see many anglers lining the banks. This creek is not one of our favorites, but in the summer months water in the Sierra’s is limited. The great part about this creek is that it does tend to produce trout regardless of the conditions. After we geared up and trudged through a foot and a half of snow to the creek, we were happy to see that there was not a soul in sight. I got out my fly box and began to tie on a small WD-40. I was ready to get after it. Three casts after into it, I hooked and landed a fish that fought as if it was 4 times its size. Little did I know that there would be one of the strongest BWO hatches around midday. Never before have I had the chance to stick trout on a dry fly on almost every cast; while it was snowing! I fish the winter midge hatches and usually the BWO’s are fairly small, but this time I was fishing a size 14. All in all, we had a great day of fly fishing to some beautiful winter trout in the Sierra Mountains. Despite the guides on our fly rods freezing, it was incredible to be on this pristine piece of water without having to compete with other anglers. Definetely a great day and a new favorite winter fly fishing spot in the Sierras.
Funny how so often things never go according to plan. Sometimes that’s a good thing and other times its a not-so-good thing. Sounds like, in your case, on this trip it was a good thing! You woke up in the morning hoping for sun and got snow .. but that weather resulted in an epic dry fly hatch and the best you had ever witnessed. You were also expecting big crowds, and were surprised to find “not a soul” on the river. Goes to show, ya just never know! Sounds like a great day in the Sierras and on the water. Beautiful looking trout and and beautiful looking water. I have only fished the Sierras once, it was incredible! I hope to make it back someday. Perhaps, winter is the time to go:) Thanks for sharing.
WD-40 is a deadly nymph pattern. I love fishing them for picky trout in tailwaters. Good to hear that you got a chance to trick a few on dries. It is excicting to see the fish come up and inhale your offering. Keep it up.
The Sierra’s look so cool, what an awesome place to fish. Fishing dries is my favorite way to trout fish, in my opinion it is the most non-intrusive way to become part of the trouts ecosystem.
Sounds like a great spring fishing session and a great start to the season. Nothing like those days in the early season with nobody around especially when it ends up being a lot better than you expected!