New 3-Weight in Action

  The flood waters have resided in most of SE Minnesota, and I had a new fly rod.  I hit the road Saturday morning hoping to fish some new water.  I scoped out some new spots, but wasn't sure about the trespassing laws, so I went back to a familiar area.  I did fish a new section of a stream I've fished quite a bit in the past.  The water was clear, with just a hint of cloudiness.  The flow appeared to be at a very fishy level.  By the time I hit the water, the winds had picked up to a level just below gale-force.  Casting was going to be a chore, better left to the 7 weight in the car, but I insisted on trying the new one.

I started off with a two-fly combo consisting of a caddis pupae trailing a black stone beadhead.  It didn't take long for my foam indicator to go down, as I set back on what felt like a good fish.  I took my camera out of my pocket during the fight, hoping to get a good "first fish on new rod" picture, but put it back after realizing the caddis pupae was snagged in the fish's belly.  Not much action after that.  I was feeling a bit lazy that day, so I didn't mess around with switching flies or indicator depth.  As the afternoon temperatures climbed into the 50s, I noticed a few mayflies flying around.  A few minutes later there were some duns floating in the drift, occasionally getting slurped up by eager browns in the slack-water eddys.  This finally prompted a change of flies.  Looking in the dry fly side of my box, I grabbed a very realistic imitation that I still had from fishing the meadow's of Elk Creek in Colorado last summer.   

The 3 weight delicately placed the fly right where I wanted it, and it looked just like a natural in the drift.  This little guy agreed.

The action continued for about half an hour and I picked up about 5 or so.  It was fun to see them wait in their lies and come to the surface for the fly every time I kept the drift natural.  I had a handful of refusals anytime the bug floated funny.   That short period of dry fly action made the day worthwhile.