55 on the fly

Michelle and I hit a small brook trout stream in YNP today.  Michelle hasn't fly fished since our trip out here in 2011 so this was a good first outing for her to "practice" on some willing brookies.  It's like riding a bike for her and she was back in form in no time. Great pocket water fishing with lots of wild brook trout. tough to beat the beauty of a brook trout... Michelle with one of many on the day. Michelle working up the middle of the creek in this photo.  "Picking-the-Pockets" with accurate casting and fly placement behind the boulders and in the runs. We only used two flies today, a Coachman Trude and a Wiese's Clacka Caddis. Today I used my Ben Turpin custom G-series fly rod. I thought it was an appropriate choice with the Turpin's hand painted brook trout on the rod.  

My son Scott and I fished the Delaware River this weekend.  We fished the Main Stem on Saturday and the West Branch on Sunday.  This trip had a little bit of everything.  Saturday it was cold and windy with rain on and off making for some difficult fishing with only a few bugs hatching.  BWO's, Sulphers and some dark brown caddis were all that I saw in very small numbers and zero Isonychia's on this trip.  Later in the evening, just before dark we were able to catch a few and lose a few on Wiese's Coachman Clacka Caddis and some dark brown Korn's Spent Wing Caddis flies.  But the highlight of the day for me was seeing a bald eagle flying low, down the river towards us with a fish in it's talons.  It landed on the bank right behind us and started tearing and eating it... very cool. A Bald Eagle and his fish...  Later in the day we watched a Heron as it hunted not 10 yards from Scott.  It caught a mouse, killed it and the...