The weather is the weather... it didn't stop the fishing, just made for some modifications to plans, some hopefulness coming. We opted to fish a small stream and return to the alpine tarn ponds. The small stream offered a great few moments, one captured on video, the other not. The one not on video was of a 4 or 5 pound brown that was rising under a willow. The willow branches hung down to waist height but no branches obstructed the casts. Just keep the cast horizontal and cast to the fish. It fed a few times on top, refused to look. Then I switched to the willow grub - a #18 green foam stick on a hook - and the fish refused twice. The cool part was that the fish held a foot off the shore in a 10" deep gravel trough. I cast one more time and it took the grub on 5 x. When I set the hook, the fish went nuts, literally storming 8 to 10 feet onto the dry gravel on shore. Mitch watched, only saying,"Oh no!" about 6 or 7 times. I couldn't believe what I was watching, my only reaction to run into the creek and pull as hard as I could sideways to hoist it back into the water. In 3 or 4 flops and with me keeling my rod over, the fish was back in the creek and I had bent my willow grub straight out. Of course it fell off, but it was in the water, thankfully. That day featured some bow & arrow casts, some awkward, some results and some misses.
The next day was the big rain day for the entire island. The front moved in at about 6pm and the winds howled through the valley at the alpine tarn lakes. We'd spent the day in pouring rain and then just dreary clouds, trying to sight browns along the shoreline. We each managed a few good takes, a few landed, and several flat out misses. It was very difficult to see much but given the conditions, a great day. But, with winds of 160kmh just to our north, fly casting was no match once it really picked up.
Here's a few shots of the past few days. Black and white to match the weather.
Cheers
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