I woke up this morning to go fly fishing, got dressed, filled my backpack with snacks and tp and waking myself up for the 2 mile walk along the creek ahead of me. I slipped on my waders, made sure i had my fly box, tippet and everything else i need to get some fish then got in the car and was dropped off at my starting point. My original access point has been blocked due to construction wich is kind of aggrivating because that means i had to get in the creek and wade down quite a ways to get to my original starting point. i sat my backpack down and watched for a minute before casting observing the water. I took some line out, waded in and starting casting. Halfway through the drift my strike indicator stopped ,went underwater and took off. From that point i set the hook FISH ON! I was excited to have hooked a fish on the first cast But it jumped and spit the hook. But i stayed possitive and checked my leader and flies before casting again. I got nothing on the following cast but the one after that i got a very solid strike. Stripped some line and lifted my tip up to set the hook and fish on!! The fish didn't jump but it stuck to the bottom like a 2 oz weight! It took about 20-30 seconds for me to get the fish off the bottom and from that point i proceeded to bank the fish and take a picture then release the fish it was around 8-9 inches. After catching that fish i decided to fish one of my favorite spots, although i had missed 3 strikes there last time and the water is alot lower now i figured i could get one or two. I nymphed the seam and pocket of the spot and had ntohing, not even a nibble so i decided to get my backpack and move downstream to the pocket stretches. I call it the pocket stretches because every other small stretch of water is fishable pocket water. There is a transition from slow almost non moving creek, to faster pocket water with plenty of small seams,riffles and pools to fish. The first spot i approach is a very deep swift water spot with depths up to 12 ft! so it is difficult to fly fish. I resort to a method called "walking the dog" where i stand at the very top of the run, let some line out and drop my stuff letting it get a drag free drift through the deep run then swinging at the end and repeat. This technique got me one fish,around 11 or so inches from this spot and then it was time to move downstream. i fished numerous pockets with nothing to show for a quarter mile of walking and fishing, So i moved downstream to a spot i figured fish would be hiding during the low summer flows. A riffle that flows under some brush and timber near an undercut bank. First cast and bam! got a nice little scrapper and threw him back. From that point i was getting skunked and alot of the water i was fishing was very low. So i decided to pass up alot of spots and fish about a mile down creek at a spot that stays at a good steady flow year long. After arriving even the spot that should have been higher was a bit low, but still fast,oxygenated and had 2-3 ft of water so i put my backpack down and dropped a line. Third cast i got a bite and hooked the fish, he jumped once and tried to wrap around a rock but i banked him, took a picture and back to the drink the little fella went!. After releasing that fish i immediately casted again and got a very good bite. I set the hook and it felt like a snag the first second then it shook its head a took off downstream and never looked back. I let it take line for a bit until my backing started to show and some small fast areas with big rocks perfect for breaking my line were about 20 yards below the fish. So i stripped some line in to keep it tight and ran downstream to catch up with the fish. I fought it for about 3 more minutes in the same general stretch of water and somehow managed to land this very very large resident coastal cutthroat trout. I took a couple of pictures of this beast and released him to fight another day then made my way back home to tell the tale of my big trout to everyone.
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