System Shock

The reports were excellent. They told of consistent day long insect activity that was inciting trout to rise system wide. I was eager for sulphurs, march browns, and possibly some drakes. We arrived on the water anticipating some mid-afternoon activity that would culminate in a magic hour sometime after the sun would set behind the horizon. We settled into a pool, riffle, pool section of the river that was full of anglers but seemed less crowded than many other spots. Throughout the day, Dan caught a few trout in a side channel while I struggled getting fish to take on dries in clear blue sunny skies. Other anglers left our area without any luck, leaving us the entire spot during prime time. The bugs never really came, the trout failed to rise with any consistency and like fools, we stayed and waited. We managed a few more trout in almost pitch blackness and illuminated their colors with the flashes of our cameras. Looking back at the reports for the day, they told of epic insect activity, every trout in the river rising, and large fish on dries. I guess we missed something. That or just happened to choose the only section of the system that was running low on insect reserves.