I’ve been scouting small creeks and beaver pond areas for a while now, getting ready for upcoming client trips. I’ve seen six huge bull moose, some incredible mountain scenery, and some of the biggest fish to ever come out of a small creek. This brown trout below taped out at 20 inches. It was in a run in between two beaver ponds where the creek was about 10 feet wide. An amazing fish.
With the incredibly big water we have now, client trips will be limited to smaller creeks for a while. Tom and his daughter, Parker, hiked through saturated meadows and beaver ponds to stalk fish in the Upper Taylor River. The water was very cold early on and the fishing was slow, but they both did well on the Taylor and also on a private stretch of a smaller creek in the afternoon. It was mostly small browns and brook trout throughout the day, but Parker’s first fish was this really nice brown trout from the Upper Taylor. She did a great job playing the fish out of the strong current and into the net. Very nice!
Our rivers and creeks are really raging now and still on the rise. Some of the smaller creeks are no longer fishable. If you head up higher and look for beaver dams along the smaller creeks, you can still find some water to fish. And sometimes you can find some really nice wild trout. This 18-inch brown trout came from a run in between two beaver dams. You could tell this guy had been there a while. A nice chunky male with a good jaw. Thanks to Dave for the photos.
I love fishing streamers on the small streams in spring. You can do very well, and it’s a good time to find some of the larger fish. I caught this nice brown trout on Spring Creek the other day. It’s one of the bigger wild fish I’ve seen up there in recent years.
I caught a very nice rainbow today up at the Taylor River C&R stretch that measured just over 25 inches. It was a lot of fun landing it with a bamboo rod.
With the big rivers in run-off, June can be a great time to get out and fish small creeks. Yesterday I saw antelope, a bear, and some pretty wild trout.
I guided an Irwin Guides trip with Tyler, Kate, and Austin today on the Taylor River. It was their first time fly fishing and they all did great! They caught some nice rainbows, browns, and cutthroat nymphing the deep water. I had a lot of fun teaching them, and also netting their fish!
Had a really fun and productive morning on an Irwin Guides trip with Jennifer on the Taylor River today. She did great and landed a lot of nice fish including rainbows, cutbows, cutthroat, and browns. And she had a beast break off out in the current. Fun day!
Had a great time fishing with the guys all week on the Delaware River. Fishing was VERY tough all week, but we all caught fish each day. On the last day, I landed two really nice browns – one 19 inches and the other 17 inches. We had incredible hatches every day but the fish didn’t do much until the evenings. So lots of standing around during the slow times of day, and getting creative with the camera due to lack of trout.
Risty got some nice rainbows on the mainstem of the Delaware River today. Good dry fly action early evening. Nice!
