* Rocky Mountains in Spring
May and June in Utah and West Yellowstone. Snowstorms and lots of rain dominated. A couple of days, on the other hand, were so warm that wet wading was necessary. Strawberry River below the dam is like a spring creek. The water level was low, and we caught no fish. Strawberry River, about 15 miles below the dam, was a real gem if you wanted to dry/dropper. The bugs, mayflies, caddis, and stoneflies were abundant. Even in your glasses and mouth at times! Browns up to 17", and no one there. Current Creek, which was touted to be excellent fishing was fair at best. Controlled spring runoff at first and not fishable. Then, two weeks later, flow OK, one 16" brown and a couple smaller. Seems overused. Current Reservoir (bad weather) was full of Tiger Trout (cross between a Brown and Brook and sterile). Really fun, aggressive fish that were in the rocks along the edge. When they got tired of large terrestrials, streamers were the ticket. Pelican Reservoir had more bluegill then you can count on a blue popper. What a kick! Jones Hole, the gem of it all! The first day was a total bust, but the next this spring creek gave us fish after fish, which averaged 12"-16". Very feisty Browns & Rainbows that took off from one pocket to the next, then under a bank and around a root or log. Trying to land one was a real challenge! Everything else we saw was high, off color, and raging from snowmelt and the unrelenting storms, with one exception. The Firehole and Madison in Yellowstone Park were a mixed bag. Some days poor, others excellent. The most interesting day was fishing during a blizzard on the Firehole. You wanted to catch a fish frequently because the fish felt like a hand warmer. Fortunately caught some that day. - John & Elaine Cook
* Hawaii in July
I went both fly fishing and regular fishing in Kauai, Hawaii. Went fly fishing on the island's only reservoir with my sons-in-law
John and Bert, and my grandsons Zealand and Dylan. We went fishing for stocked rainbows a day after the trout season opened in Kauai. We all caught more rainbows than we could count and had a great time. The trout were hitting any fly as long as we had a medium fast strip.
A few days later we went on a boat with a local from the island. We were trolling for a few hours when we caught a large unknown fish. With luck and a great deal of fun, we were able to reel in a 170 pouns blue fin tuna. The tuna took about a 1/4 mile of line with all its runs, and it took us about 45 minutes to get the tuna to the boat. Catching the large tuna was more fun than anticipated and a great experience for all of us. The fishing trip made our vacation. - Paul Schraeder
* Lake Davis and Lake Almanor fishing June 28-July 1
At the end of June I drove up to Lake Davis with friend Doug Haut. The drive from Truckee north to the lake was stunning with another late spring wild flower explosion alongside the roads. Having missed Betty Rentz's fishout a week or so earlier I was antsy to get on the water and experience the famous Lake Davis damsel hatch. The damsels weren't happening but blood midges and sheep creek flies were. Only problem was that almost all the trout we caught were infested with cocapods. It was a real shame since all the trout caught fought bigger than their actual size. Some of the blood midge hits took my indicator down over 12'. We went out with a local guide named Jay Clark on Tuesday for an all day trip on the lake. Jay knew his stuff and had us on fish within two minutes of casting dries to rising fish. We had the most success nymphing and stripping.
After two days of handling cocapod-infected Davis trout we drove on over to Lake Almanor to see if the Hex hatch was still going on. We fished Geritol Cove our first night and saw some bugs and hardly any fish being taken. I did meet up with Cecilia and Dick Stipes, who were staying at Almanor for the whole week. Fished at the reliable launch ramp at the PG&E campground the next night with the same results. Tom Maumaynier, owner of the Lake Almanor Fly Fishing Company said it best: "late, high water confuses the fish". I heard the Butte Lake fished pretty good as their hex hatch did attract trout.
Drove back up to Lake Almanor on July 12th so my wife could see for herself the beauty of the Feather River canyon. Stayed at the south end of the lake at Canyon Dam. Fished Monday night of the 12th and had two other float tubes for company. The hex flies blanketed the surface right at 9 PM, but there wasn't any surface activity. I had been dragging a hex nymph around for two hours earlier catching only a big small mouth bass. I just have to write off the hex hatch this year due to the high water run off from all the late season snow they had up there.