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"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."*
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A close friend and I had been planning this trip for almost a year. As usual work and other life events forced us to change the launch date several times before we finally drove a stake in the ground for the last week in April and actually pulled it off.
We arrived that evening in time to squeeze in maybe an hour of fishing. The weather that evening was cool and overcast; perfect for fishing but the forecast for the next several days included the possibility of significant rain. We resolved ourselves to the straw we had drawn and put the idea of a washed out fishing trip out of mind. By sundown we had caught a few fish, nothing spectacular but promising nonetheless for a fruitful few hard earned days on the river.
The next morning we rose early for breakfast eager to get on the water. The skies were dark and threatening but no rain. The lodge keeper informed us that the forecast still included rain. We packed up the truck and headed for the river hoping he was wrong.
At the river I discovered that instead of a 5wt and a 4wt back up fly rod I had packed two 4wts and a 3wt. I shook off the thought that this was a bad omen and rigged up the faster of the 4wts with my fingers crossed that it would be enough rod for the trout I hoped to encounter. Charlie rigged up in his usual methodical way but with one eye on the ever-graying sky. We were both anxious to be on the water before the rain started. One advantage to threatening weather, only the die-hard anglers show up...we had this popular stretch of river to ourselves!
I found feeding fish shortly after getting in the water but they were small and very selective. It was several minutes before I caught the first small trout. An occasional bantamweight trout accepted the zebra midge pattern I was drifting through the risers but not with any consistency. Charlie had already decided to look for greener pastures and moved on downstream. Then it started to rain. Fortunately it was just rain with only one distant rumble of thunder so I donned the rain jacket and fished on.
The rising trout had disappeared. The river's surface was dimpled by the cascading raindrops. What would trout be feeding on in the rain I asked myself...stuff that washes into the river maybe? I tied on a soft hackle pattern that had been successful on this river in the past. Three casts later I was connected to a trout of considerable greater proportions. I threaded it through the laydowns and managed to land my first rainbow in the rain and then another and another, all decent size trout.
The rain stopped, birds began their songs of thanksgiving for the rain, owls chimed in and the fish kept on biting. I fished downstream catching more rainbows and thinking I would find Charlie but he was nowhere in sight. I had this stretch of river to myself. I returned upstream to new water and continued to catch rainbows in the fifteen to nineteen inch class all on the same soft hackle. Charlie showed up just as I was recovering from the last trout of the morning, the nineteen incher that battled me like a gladiator champion with grand leaps and lunges to the end. This morning had been a gift from the fishing gods and one I would not soon forget...and sometimes, like Ms Parton said, "...if you want the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain."
For video of this mornings action click on the link below:
http://vimeo.com/93035444
