Dry Fly Innovations

Forty feet away, tight against the cutbank, I saw his giant head appear at the surface. The wind was blowing hard down river, and I was below the fish, so I waited patiently for a lull in the breeze. It came, and I laid the #20 Emperor Caddis (black) in the kitchen of what looked like a giant fish. The fly settled, moved slightly to the left, and the whole side of a “Brownie” broadsided my fly. I set the hook and the fish immediately bolted out to deep water and without hesitation, streaked straight down river. My reel was screaming, the line was zinging, and in a matter of seconds, I could see the orange of the backing beginning to show. In emergency mode, I jumped up on the bank and headed down river, but the fish was swimming faster than me, and he was unfurling yards of my backing. There is always a queasy feeling when a fish is in your backing, but when he’s in your backing 40 yards and still swimming, that’s a crisis!

I finally caught up to the fish to the point my backing was all back on my reel, but the fish was sideways in the current way across the top end of a big slick, and he was using the girth of his body to make it impossible to move him toward the bank. I applied all the force I could; my rod was doubled over, and I was holding it high to gain leverage, but the fish would not budge. Occasionally, I was able to turn him and begin working him toward the bank, only to have him turn again and end up on the other side of the river. I was thinking I must have foul hooked the fish, but when I saw him at the surface, it looked like a mouth hook.

At this point, I’m at least a 100 yards down river from where the fish was hooked; he put me in my backing twice, he continued to be broadside in the current, and I couldn’t move him. I located a large boulder along the bank and jumped up on it to increase the leverage. Finally I began moving him toward the bank. After a few more setbacks, the fish finally slid into the net. WOW!! Twenty-two minutes to land one fish might be the longest fight I have ever experienced on the Owyhee River, but it was easy to understand why. The fish was a giant; only 23 inches long, but super heavy, thick, and broad. He probably weighed in at 6 lbs. I admired him a long time, then watched him slowly swim away and disappear into the milky water.

I dried the fly and walked back up river where I hooked the last fish and immediately I spotted another “Brownie” feeding. After serving the fish a couple of times without a take, I moved a little closer and casted again. Bingo!! The fish took the fly, I set the hook, and immediately the fish zings past me headed down river. After another foot race and a long, hard battle, I landed the fish in the exact same place I lanted the first one. And so the afternoon went. I only landed seven fish before the wind blew me off the river around 4:30. All the fish were big and four of the seven fish I had to chase down river before I could land them.

The leading edge of the caddis hatch is beginning. It’s time to stock up on black and green Emperor caddis size 20.

Flies that caught fish:

Emperor Caddis – Black #20