Bright sun Shawmut Dam, Noon.Three of us head down river in the drift boat. We’re rigged to fish the Blue Dun Hatch, with floating line, long 9-foot leaders, anticipating a 2 PM hatch to float emergers or duns. It should have happened that way, but mother nature never gives gaurentees, and the hatch was so sparse, we never saw many bugs at all.Defiant, we kept up hope, napped, ate, watched, drifted, hoping for surface feeding. All of us knew we could catch fish by nymphing, or streamering, or wooly buggering, but who among us could hold out the longest before switching over? Jeremy was the first to give in and admit that “catching a fish” was what he wanted to do…no matter what the method. So, he tied on his now infamous Olive Wolly Bugger and began slinging, after a nap on the bow!Shawmut’s drift to Fairfield has a myriad of deep holding lies, and I could have/should have suggested deep lining the fish earlier in the trip, if hooking a fish by any method was paramount, but for us that day, fishing the hatch was the goal.When we came to a dump-in hidy-hole I’ve known to contain some brutes, I suggested to Jer that he swing his fly deep. Then, as the fly swung fruitlessly several times, I said, “Jer, Strip, strip, strip.” So he did just that. On the third strip, the big Rainbow took the fly aggressively and Jeremy fought that 3-4 lb. fish for 15 minutes, all captured on video. Except for the LDR, which occured when the mighty Bow snapped the line at the knot. Next time down river, I’ll bring along the deep rig, just in case the fish are still sulking! Man, that was a fine Rainbow…and, he’s still there!
