I broke in my fly rod yesterday on a nice little Kings River rainbow trout. It hit a double bead stonefly nymph in a deep pool, I had another strike in the same pool but was too slow on the hook set. At the end of the day we stopped by a very popular spot and luckily no one was there so we had no competition for the prime spots on the river. I headed to where the fast moving shallow water dropped off into a deep pool at a bend in the river. It's an excellent section of water with an undercut bank for the trout to hide under and a nice big eddy between the far bank and the shallow edge for resting in while they wait for the "food" to get swept passed them. I casted the double bead nymph upstream and let it drift into the eddy and all of a sudden my line goes tight, the rod doubles over and I see a huge white flash deep in the water so I strip set the hook and then.........Pop my line snaps and the huge trout disappears into the river >:( Based on the size of the white belly i saw when it hit my fly I bet the trout was around 24". The local guys we talked to earlier in the day at that spot said they have been catching a lot of trophy sized (5-6#, 24" plus) trout in the exact spot we were.... Needless to say I'll probably remember the one that got away more than the first one I got on my new setup!
Congrats! Nice fish.
I'm looking forward to a nice long vacation over Memorial Day week, I'll be back in PA trout fishing again.
My son is looking forward to catching his first trout and a fly he tied.
farmer 56 here..... i wish i was you right now.... want to fly fish also ... farmer 56 out
Nice catch PJ! God, that river looks beautiful!
............Lou
Excellent!!!
Looks like somebody has a go-to trout pattern now.
Nice fishy PJ!
And so it begins, welcome to the dark side :D
Great job,,,now your hooked ;D
Great start PJ on a beautiful stretch of river. I've just bought myself a new outfit an Orvis Helios 3D rod and Scierra reel Hydros floating line - won't be using it 'til May (can't wait ;D).
Always check your tippet for 'wind' knots. I would guess that they weaken your tippet by 50%.
Beautiful, PJ. Thanks for sharing the experience.
Quote from: wfjord on March 02, 2018, 02:46:12 AM
Nice trout. That's a really nice looking river. Wish I lived near it.
One of the greatest in the world , most of it you have to earn as access is on foot and at elevation .
Worth the work , but tough going!
Also usually heavily patrolled by the D,F&W resulting in some spectacular fines.
Two years ago I saw a family have their car impounded , all gear seized and a $1700 ticket written for poaching.
They left the food and water but took the 🍺
Serious but that is the reason the river has such a healthy population.
I feel very fortunate to have landed the trout since the public river access areas are always crowded and the fishing pressure is ridiculous. The trout in those areas have seen more lures and flies than can be found in every tackle store in the central valley.
The trout are probably more cooperative in areas where there is limited public access but I don't know the area well or have permission from anyone so I have to stick to the common publicly known areas.....
I'll take what I can catch where I can catch it!