Labor Day Fishing: 3 for 3

Looking upstream at a calmer spot

I’m three for three on my Wild West Labor Day fishing excursions. The last two years I went to that special lake and killed it. This year I’ve graduated to thigh waders, a bait caster, and lures. I have this bait caster only with a different handle. It’s a low end combo that cost less than $100. It’s my first bait caster and it works well.

The bait caster allows for pinpoint casting which is great. The downside is that you have to have the dial and knob set correctly to your lure weight or you’ll backlash. You also need to learn how to control the spool with your thumb. Check, check, and check!

Some people rig their baitcaster with million dollar braided line that will let you reel in an anchor. IMO that’s cheating. Also trout are easily spooked so I use 10lb crystal clear monofilament. It’s strong enough to let me muscle most trout if they run in the current but weak enough that they can still snap it. It’s also thin and clear enough that most can’t see it.

Today I went to a low valley called Cardwell. It’s more of a trout stream than a river. Due to the conditions it’s considered a place for the “technical” fly fisherman. It has maybe 500 yards of moderately challenging stream with naturally spawning trout. When I arrived there were two other trout fisherman and one was a female. Yes, here in the Wild Wild West the womenfolk kill it and grill it too!

So this was my first proof of concept trip with the waders. I wanted to see if I could use the waders to take the baitcaster and lures to the trout. Totally killed it!

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So here’s the best part: I saw the female fisherman catch one fish on her fly rig. The guy caught squat. Ol’ Bob the hack shows up in his cheapo thigh waders and without a fly rod I smoked it! I actually caught four but I dropped the last one before I could take a photo!

Lure of the day was this guy:

So far variants of this color pattern work well for me.

After my second fish I’m fairly certain that Mr. River Runs Through It fly fisherman glared at me. Yes, I drank his beer and kissed his girlfriend. 🙂

Directly below Cardwell is a place called Fremont Canyon. It’s supposed to have big browns, cutthroats, and rainbows. The downside is that it’s very treacherous. There is shore access but you have to hop rocks while fishing. For the life of me I could not figure out where the shore access point is. Here I am looking down into the canyon:

I think this part is further up where folks somehow get boats in. Anyhow, I have two local leads at work. I may also call one of the local fly shops. If I can figure out how to hike in without dying I’ll have three good spots within about 5 miles of each other!