I landed a small brown almost immediately, then went fish less for about 2 hours. That is the typical experience I have had on this river...tough fishing. These fish are not your typical trout. The rainbows are stream bred and they require long drifts, good mends and flies that are deep. I gave the river a rest for a while and made a sandwich and had a couple of brews. I tied on a streamer pattern and decided to just go with something that I know how to do well. I made it back down to the creek with about an hour of daylight left, and the fishing was epic. In about an hour I landed an 17-18" brown, a 15" rainbow, and several small rainbows and browns. In that hour of fishing, I caught more NFOW trout than I had in a full weekend of fishing on my last trip.
I was feeling pretty good after that hour. If I didn't catch a fish for the rest of the trip, it would have been worth it. I was up early to get ready for my car shuttle in the morning. I took down camp, ate breakfast, and packed the car and had about an hour to kill before Justin ran my shuttle. I headed down to the river with my streamer rod rigged. I fished for about 30 minutes with nothing to show for my efforts. Right around 8 am, a giant brown charged my streamer from the far bank. It didn't take, but it hovered over some lightly colored sand and I could see it plane as day. I made another cast and it charged it again, this time right up to me feet. I made another cast and it made another lazy follow and disappeared back to the far bank. I thought that I wouldn't get another shot at it, but tied on a different pattern and made a bad cast. As I was picking up my slack line I saw the brown rush out and destroy the fly as it was sinking. I set the hook and the battle was on. The fish somehow rolled and lassoed itself, so the fight wasn't that amazing but it was a hell of a fish.
What a start to a trip. I still had a full day of smallie fishing, a night gravel bar camping, and a full day of trout fishing ahead of me. I picked up some flies and Justin ran the car shuttle for me. I put in a twin bridges and kind of just soaked in the scenery for an hour or so. It was a cold morning, and the fishing was slow. The scenery made up for the slow fishing. The NFOW is beautiful in this section. Big bluffs and complete solitude. I didn't see any smallies until about 4 miles into the trip. They were grouped up and really skittish. When I found a group, I could usually only catch 1 or 2 fish before they would scatter. When I set up camp, I had only caught around 5 fish. I did pick up a few more around dark.
I wake up the next morning well before the sun was up. I took down camp, packed the canoe and started fishing. Smallies were eating even before the sun was up. I caught a bunch from the pool that I camped next too and few after I started floating. Biggest was 16.5".
I made it down to the trout water, and didn't catch anything for a while. Then it happened. I was deep nymphing a fast riffle and I had a take. I set the hook and a giant rainbow cleared the water and took off downstream. I cannot begin to describe how hard this fish fought on my 5 wt. It took me nearly to my backing and I thought that I was never going to land it. Luckily I did. The picture isn't all that great, but it gives you an idea of how big it was. I am guessing 18-19".
So I am feeling really good right about now. I decide to cross the river and fish the riffle from the other side. I switch rods and throw a big pat's rubberlegs onto my 7 wt. No more than 5 casts in, and get another big fish on. It made a giant run and then came charging back upstream to me. I could barely move it, and for a while I thought I was wrapped around some obstruction. It just turned out to be a HUGE rainbow. This was was over 20" and was the biggest rainbow I have ever caught. Again, not the best pictures, but I was just focusing on getting the fish landed rather than getting my camera set up.
At this point, I was pinching myself to make sure I wasn't still sleeping. This trip will go down as one of the best of my life and I have a full day of fishing ahead of me. I didn't catch anymore monsters, but I caught lots of fish and a couple of good ones. I made it back to the campground around dusk. I enjoyed some chili and beer around the campfire with some folks from Kansas city and I hit the hay around 10 pm. What a trip it was.
