Cold Front

A brutally cold wind rode into the valley this evening. Upon leaving town for the lake, I didn't think things were that bad but after arriving out on the open plains it was a much different weather situation. The storm was coming in and the wind had the lake whipped into a froth of mud and occasional periods of whitecapping waves. I gave it a valiant effort out there flailing in the wind and cold but ended up fighting the ever building ice in the guides instead of any trout. I cut my losses and headed back to town for a warm drink.

Hot Bite At The Lake

The fish were really keyed in this evening on midges along the dam. I was happily engaged in hooking, fighting and landing rainbows at a predictable and fast pace. With the food source they were targeting swarming all over the dam it was obvious upon arrival that action would be good if I could just get a midge in front of them. It was nice to have a good workout on the casting arm. I had a few takes on the BHPT as well but the midge was highly desired and kept getting popped by the cruising trout.

Fast Hour Fishing

I managed an hour to visit a close stillwater in the evening after work. The lake was very muddy with a visible mud line far out of casting distance. I worked in the off color water and managed a rainbow landed with some other takes, but overall the visibility had things slow for nymphing. The moon was out this early evening but I couldn't manage a decent photo. I have posted my best one but its only viewable at low resolution.

Beating The Storm... Impossible

I went out intent on getting in some good water time this evening and ended up fishing the majority of the time in a constant downpour. The bit of lightning generated by the thunderstorm was out over the mountains but I paid close attention while waving the fly rod around as I was by far the highest point on the dam of the lake. The fish were very cooperative this evening and were feeding voraciously on midges just off the dam. I was able to connect with quite a few fish making the soaking rain tolerable. Before I left for the evening, the setting sun undercut the storm and produced several nice rainbows. A gorgeous ending to another beautiful, spring Wyoming day.

The storm after the major downpour had passed

Rainbow trout that fought well

The darkness of the storm made my camera kick in the autoflash

Evening Nymphing For Rainbows

Tonight I managed a quick trip to visit some rainbow trout that are working the emerging midge hatches. In the calm evening air, thick clouds of large midges were holding over the dam when I arrived. There were a few fish interested in nymphs in the calm water, but when the wind came up and put a rough chop on the water, I was getting more action from the waves dancing my nymph setup underwater. These fish are getting hotter on the five weight as spring warms up with acrobat leaping displays as well as bulldogging hard for the weeds.

A standard rainbow trout on this lake

The water is turbulent from the winds arriving