West '05 Trip - Day 13

Posted: 2006-02-28
By: Randy Cochran

A fly shop was my first destination after checkout, where I bought a few flies and leaders, petted the requisite shop dog and chatted with Mary about potential guide positions the following year.

Poindexter Slough was the first place I looked at; Russ and Shelly from Canon City, CO were also there, as were a few other people in short order. I exchanged pleasantries and offered some tips on fishing a dry/dropper, which they had never done before.

Off I went, towards the upper Beaverhead again. Several long, weedy channels in that stretch reminded me of many spring creeks that I've fished, and so I felt quite at home with the water there.

3 small Rainbows and a brown of about the same size started things off nicely. I turned out to be a bit luckier than the day before, eventually landing 'bows of 19, 23 and 24". Now, I am perfectly satisfied with any fish I catch most of the time, but fish like this can spoil me pretty quickly, especially if the day is made up of a few such catches. But I try to greet every fish (aside from whitefish, that is) with the same joy and humility that I felt when I caught my first trout, because I know just how hard even 1 small fish can be to come by sometimes.

But that's fly fishing, isn't it? You take the good with the bad, and even then the bad is so much better than not being on the water at all. A bad day's fishing is better than a good day's work.

And that became the mantra as I hooked and lost the biggest of the day. Same scenario as the other day: a large, big-shouldered brute with a chip on its shoulder, dogging in the current till my fly pops loose after 3 or 4 minutes.

Too bad for me. Another guy nearby was more fortunate than I at that same moment, however. Steve from Ohio (I know there are probably a few 'Steves' in OH, and it could've be any one of them, and it's not like I'm on a first name basis with any of them, but I honestly don't remember his last name) got my help netting a large rainbow of 23" that he thought was a brown. I can understand why he thought this; the rainbow's sides were nearly golden, matching its underwater habitat. A beautiful, yet faint slash along his lateral line told the truth, though. I took a couple pics of the fish with his disposable camera, then we shot the shit for a few about OH/PA steelheading. He says I need to try the 'Bitch Hole' on the Vermillion. Sounds good to me.

I finished up fishing fairly early - well, early for me anyway - and made camp at the wonderful facility at the base of Clark Canyon Dam. Dinner was a couple Chicago-style redhots on a grilled bun, minus the relish. What a great way to end a great day.