Monday Evening with my Wife and the Stonefly Family

Average brown trout for this water.

Colorful brown caught with large dry stonefly.

A little hungry and willing rainbow.

Low, clear water and skittish trout.

Caught right behind the large rock.

After the recent rains, I wasn't too sure the river would be in fishable condition. I expected it to look like weak chocolate milk. But it was low and clear. When the water is this low and clear, most anglers find the trout a little too difficult to approach, but with a little care, it is possible to tease a few takers.

This is the time of year the large stoneflies (Pteronarcy californica) are hatching on this particular stream. I found numerous dry, split nymph shucks on exposed rocks and willow stems. I searched for any adults and could not find any. This told me that the hatch had already occurred.

I've always had good fishing with large dry adult patterns even a couple of weeks after the hatch, so, I tied on a number six Twisted Foam Stone and began to cast it into likely spots. It wasn't long before a brown jumped completely out of the water trying to take my offering. A couple of drifts after that, and I had a sweet looking brown in my hands.

And so the evening went. I missed hooking more than I caught, But I caught several browns and one small rainbow.

The highlight of the evening was watching the only real adult stonefly drop out of the far side brush and onto the water. It fluttered around in a seam and I watched as a 12-inch brown rose up to eat it. The brown missed on its first attempt and then circled around and ate it on the second attempt. I looked back at my wife and said, "Watch this, I'm going to catch one right here!" I cast into the seam and a trout immediately rose to the offering. Just as had happened with the natural stonefly, the trout missed. I sent the fly right back into the seam and hooked the trout on the second try. I don't think I've never had this type of perfect set-up with a stonefly before. I don't think it could have been scripted any better.