Just a Little More Daylight

Fishing Time:  Dusk to dark
Weather:  Clear, calm, T-50s
Moon Phase:  New Moon
Location:  Hams Fork River/Lake Viva Naughton
Best Bait:  Hams Fork- glow bug (egg pattern), Viva Naughton- brown/green renegade
Who Went:  Dunc

I spent the week working in Kemmerer, Wyoming and tried to get out and fish as much as possible with the very limited daylight I had after work.  I just purchased a new Reddington 6 weight (moderate action) fly rod and I was anxious to try it out. 

The first night I literally had about 15 minutes of daylight to fish, so I skipped the river and went straight to Lake Viva Naughton to get a few casts in before dark.  The fish were rising and I was excited to try the new rod.  I've recently been using an 8 weight fast action rod at the Bear River for those big bruiser browns and it took me awhile to get used to the lighter weight moderate action Reddington rod.  I was struggling to get any distance and I needed more distance to reach the rising trout.  Right before dark I hooked up with the only fish of the night, but it was a beautiful 18-inch rainbow that fought me into dark.  It was a good way to break in the new rod.

I only made it out one more night with daylight to spare.  This time I had about an hour and a half of daylight and I strung up the fly rod at work before I left so I was ready to roll as soon as I hit the river.  I started making my way up the Hams Fork hitting all the best looking spots.  I was throwing the same glow bug (egg pattern) that I use at the Bear River in hopes of finding a big Hams Fork spawning brown trout. 

I worked as much river as I could before dark with nothing to show for it, but as I was walking back towards the truck I saw a deep hole that caught my attention.  I let the glow bug drift through the deep hole, but had no signs from my indicator so I pulled the rod tip back to make another cast, and it was fish on!  Never had that happen, and after a few seconds it popped off.  I was totally bummed. 

I casted into the deep hole again and this time I saw my indicator go under and I set the hook on a nice little rainbow.  Man those rainbows fight.  Very fun on a fly rod.  I was able to pull two more carbon copy bows from the same drift before darkness overtook me and I could no longer see my indicator.  No big browns from the Hams Fork, but the rainbows made the night a success.