by DarkShadow » December 16th, 2022, 4:22 pm
Someone asked me what my biggest fly fishing memory was in 2022.
I had to think about it for quite a while, and then dig into my photo roll to see if I even fly fished this year. In fact, I can count the number of times I went to the Sierra this year, and it was ONCE.
We camped up along Robinson Creek in early July and while the conditions were amazing, the fishing was very not, from what I'm accustomed to.
I found a nice hole in the middle of no where on Robinson where I made my first cast and hooked this gargantuan trout that obviously was a brood stock or one of the special 'private' stocks that may have gone in. It shook it's head a few times and threw my fly after attempting to 'jump,' but when you're an obese 5 or 6 pounds, it's more of a belly flop than a jump. That was certainly a * moment as I've never run into fish that size in our small creeks in the Sierras.
I spent a few more days coming back to that same hole after spending the day in other locations, and caught some other specimens, but not as big, but even up to 15 inches, but nothing 'wild.' All these were stockers and I could not see one sign of any wild fish, not at our campsite close to Twin Lakes, nor in sections of Robinson that I fished through.
One of those days of the week long trip, I took off to Kennedy Meadows (North) thanks to some advice from some of the guys here. The drive was amazing, the scenery even more beautiful and the stretch of the MF Stani was gorgeous. When I arrived, I opened my fly bag to see that I had left EVERY single fly box back at the campsite at Twin Lakes. I had to literally dig through the nooks and crannies of my truck to find flies that I've cut off and thrown in there, and bought a dozen or so generic patterns from the store there. Regardless, it was a fun day with several beautiful wild fish. I fished the MF pretty quickly and was back to my truck in no time, and I found a pod of wily stockers to end that session with.
25 minutes later, I'm hitting the Clark's Fork, which again provided some good moving water. While I did get a few small wild fish to go, I was also able to fish some pools were some freshly stocked fish greeted me with open mouths.
But aside from that trip, I haven't really busted out my fly rod much. Work has me completely busy, so I think staying closer to home and wacking the bass on conventional gear has been keeping me occupied. I'll take the fly rods out to the local pond once in a while, but there hasn't been any type of focused fly fishing trip in a while.