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Fishing Recreation
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11 Sep 2009, 2:12 pm / Happy
There they were, 5 giant rainbows sipping pinks out ahead of a large boulder in smooth water. There were 2 particularly large fish just ahead of the boulder that had our complete attention. Scott Barbee a long time fishing partner took the first cast at them with a #20 pink emerger. A good drift over them failed to get a take and another cast gently floated over their lair. Bang!! The big guy on the right sipped the hook. Scottie set the hook and the fish exploded down stream.
When Scott's fish cleared down stream, I delivered an adult #18 pink mayfly over the second monster still feeding above the boulder. First cast floated perfectly to his feeding trough and he slowly and deliberately rose and took the fly. A gentle hook set, a massive explosion, a vicious run to mid current and a jump opened our relationship.
So here we were, two great fish running wild in hard current and two fisherman wondering what in the hell do we do now. After five minutes the fish had crossed each other twice, they jumped 4 times and miraculously we were both still connected and Scottie's fish was beginning to succumb to the net. After a couple of short bolts we planted Scott's fish in my net, and because Scott had forgotten his net it was the only net we had.
Scott took the net, and removed his fly from the fish while I continued to battle the bruiser at the end of my line. A couple of minutes later we slid another giant into the net on top of Scott's fish.
We both looked in awe at the net totally occupied with 2 massive fish one about 19 inches and the other pushing 22. Wow!! We admired there gorgeous colors, and there massive girth and gently slipped them back into the gin clear water. Another image imprinted in my gray matter for life. Spectacular!
So the day went on and the fishing was tough and technical. The hatches changed from pinks to PMD's. The fish were stubborn at times and conducive at others. The one thing that stayed consistent was the giant size and thickness of the fish we caught. The South Fork fish have pigged out this summer in a big time way.
We landed 5 fish in the first run, 7 in the next and 5 on the final stretch of the river for a total of 17. The fly's of choice for the day was #18 pink mayfly and a #20 pink emerger. Later in the day we changed to a #20 adult PMD that had some success.
The South Fork is a really fun place to fish right now. The fish are enormous, smart, and particular. Bring you're A game and a handful of Dry Fly Innovations pink's and PMD's for a special day on the river.
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Fishing Recreation
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