Fishing report Little Piney January 12, 2021

Weather report for my 63rd birthday was going to be in the 50s and sunny after being cold for a while so I thought I should try out the new 3 weight fly rod that my wife presented to me ( that I had purchased as my birthday present)  and head to the Little Piney with my brother, Bob and fellow FATC member.

I have fished it before, but he had not so we checked out the bridge at Vida to help him get his bearings on the area. We then got back in my car and drove to the top of the hill at Lanes Springs as the area is closed for the winter.  A couple of vehicles pulled up as we were eating our lunches and getting our gear on, but they were just planning on hiking the trails.  We were the only fishermen that we saw today!

We had hopes and dreams of catching a lot, but we only each got 1 to the net.

Anytime that I fish I think of our father that taught us to fish as kids.  Bob always out fished me when we were kids, but since we started fly fishing I have been “holding my own”!
We were hoping for some top water action as there were several hatches, but not many fish were coming to the top so we decided to just stay deeper.  Olive weighted Wooly Bugger is what we each caught our fish on,
I had strikes all day, but could not set the hook even though some of them felt like a lot bigger fish than either of us caught!

Bob reminded me of a phrase our Dad said often when he trout fished (mostly with Velveeta cheese mixed with flour or a red plastic worm) and did it several times that day of “turning the fish over”. but not getting it in!