Back on the FLY!!: Ring, ring...who is it??... The lower Stan....I've been expecting your call.

Yeah BABY!!! Another phenomenal morning last Thursday on the lower Stanislaus River. Patrick and I answered the call and headed out to catch some of the wild trout that inhabit this fine fishery. There was a threat of a thunder storm but that didn't stop us from throwing our hand tied patterns at these beautiful trout. We arrived on the river at 6:30am and headed for the lower pool. Right away Patrick had a fish but with an aerial acrobatic show the fish tossed the hook. I had a few takes but couldn't hold them...the smaller trout seemed to be teasing us a bit. We decided to scale the moss covered rocks to the pool just below the dam. We had better success here. Patrick and I netted 5 fish combined at this pool. An hour of fishing here and getting constant mist in our face from the water flowing over the dam we decided to try our luck down river.

Once down river, Patrick hooked into a fish. It is so cool to see the hook set, the fight and then the release. I went further down to fish the "pool" but kept getting distracted by Patrick hooking into fish. He must have caught 7 or 8 fish in about a 20 minute window. I was like "Dude, this guy is on Fire!!" I didn't have as much luck but still was able to land a couple and lose a couple.

The fish were all ranging between 8-10 inches until... I saw Patrick's rod go up and the line get tight. I could tell this was no 8 or 10 incher. I was at least 50 yards down river but that didn't stop me from heading back to get a closer look at his fish. The whole time it took me to walk back through the water I could see Patrick carefully fight this fish. I kept thinking to myself "please stay on." When I got to Patrick he had finally got the fish in the net...Whew! We took a few photos (for the blog & proof) then let him go back to be caught again...hopefully by me next time. The fish measured in at 14 1/2 inches...a very respectable fish for this river.

What I love about fly fishing is you are always learning something new every time you're on the water and every time you go out with an experienced fisherman. Patrick (experienced fisherman) noticed my set up and asked if I was using a split shot weight. I said "no" and he said "you gotta use a split shot"... "The spit shot gets your flies down deeper & produces a slower drift". So he gave me a split shot and I headed just above him to the top of the pool to fish the riffle. On the 2nd cast I caught a nice rainbow... Totally Awesome! Little tips like that can put your flies in the right water column where the trout are feeding...Thanks Man!! I caught 4 fish in this spot with Patrick and I hooking into a double(both of us catching & landing fish at the same time). I also had numerous takes and a few that tossed my fly. What was cool is that I was really paying attention to my drift. I was making sure my indicator lead the way down the river while my flies trailed.

I was perfecting my cast & tossed a few more good drifts when BAM!!... I hooked into what was my nicest fish for the day. He didn't hesitate on taking the fly and pulling my indicator way down... I pulled hard with my left hand while my right hand put my rod tip high in the air...then the fight was ON!! He made a few last minute attempts to pull away but I was able to finesse the fight and land this Lower Stan beauty! What makes me crazy about slightly larger fish is how hard they pull on your line and give you a great fight...I LOVE IT!!!

Well the only down fall to fishing two flies and a split shot is every once in a while you get a nasty birdsnest (line tangle)...not good. Patrick and I both had a birdsnest, so we called it a day plus we both needed to get back home (perfect excuse). I had an AWESOME day fishing with my friend and seeing him land over 12 fish. I ended the day with 9 rainbows plus a few more techniques to put in my fishing vest. Here are a couple of photos of the nice ones we landed plus some pictures of the patterns we tied.