Catching the same fish twice. This time on the same day in the same run. Its happened before, but it does make one think. Do I need to cover more water? Don't fish the same run twice? Fish elsewhere all together? Does it even matter? Yes, we are all catching the same fish over and over on the popular tail waters and spring creeks of the west. You can tell by the fishes mangled mouths. Most of them, in fact nearly ALL of them, have battle scars, hook marks, and torn or wounded mouths. Sad in a way, but to avoid it we have to fish the less-fished places. Those places aren't as "good," or more people would fish there! Then those places would have fish with ripped lips. I like getting away from the crowds as much as anybody, but I'm never quite satisfied for long with the mediocre.
I have to fish fairly accessible waters these days. And I want to fish the ones with good hatches and shots at bigger fish every day. So, I'll put up with the ripped lips, even though all of these waters I love to fish so much are starting to feel more and more "fake." Its still cool to hunt the heads, get the fly in there, and see the fish come up and eat the bug. The still pull the line and clear the water, its just that they look like hell when you get 'em to hand.
With that said, here's the poor ripped-lip 18 incher I caught yesterday morning and again last evening just above the log jam. It ate a flav spinner in the morning, and the soft hackle last night. Notice the mark on the gill plate and all the spots match. In the morning photo, I didn't have the fish properly in the light, and the photo was dark. The sun was right in the early evening. So, I got the photo after all.
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| Morning. |
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| Evening |
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