Swimming in the Taylor

Thank God it stayed up at 500. I had been watching the flow on the Taylor for a week or two and
things had been looking good. I think it went from 80 or so to 400 and then crept its way up to 500. I've been saying for the last few years that if the Taylor hit 500 again I would quit my job if I had to and get my happy ass up there. Well... here I was a week into 500 flows looking at other people's slab pics.

Well we made it up this past Saturday and it didn't disappoint (for the most part).  The kick in the ass that I needed to get up there was that Marty had been cleared by his doctor to fish. This is a big deal since Marty hasn't gone fishing since our day on the Dream with -18 degree temps. We were toying with the idea of leaving Friday evening and camping but there was a good 10% chance that it would rain and that made me hate my tent. So we decided to go old school and do it in a day. Well soft old school.. we left at 4am instead of 1am.

And were the first to show at the bridge.... Winning! We decided to head up to the top of the public water and work our way down. We saw a bunch of reds on the way up that were particularly concentrated at and around the wire. We stopped to watch for a few minutes and then kept heading upstream. I didn't see any monsters in the top riffle. I was hoping a large trout that had led a quiet life eating shrimp cocktails above the public access had hastily wondered his way downstream in the heavy flow but that was just twisted wishful thinking.

It was tempting to take some casts at the wire but
we made the right choice and kept walking. It wasn't hard to find the feeding browns on the sides of the main channel. It also didn't take long for one of them to eat a Kleis's Mysis.This fly, San Juan Worms, eggs, and a chocolate DM midge all fished well in the morning. A #20 olive RS2 was hot in the afternoon. We hooked fished fairly consistently the whole day.

Marty wound up hooking more than just fish though... I saw him walking downstream towards me and he was saying something but I couldn't quite make it out. When he got closer I heard him say that he could use a hand. I couldn't really tell what he was talking about till he walked up to me and I saw the fly stuck in his face! Luckily it was a small fly and came out easily. Unfortunately this was not the end of Marty's bad luck.

We met some cool guys on this trip like Nick Pep who I happened to walk up on while he was netting this sweet bow! This was the biggest fish I saw or heard of being taken that day. Glad I was able to shoot him a pic! We also spoke to some cool guys at lunch and it turns out one of them, Stephen Hofer, follows my blog which is very cool!

The PM fishing was good but not as hot as the AM fishing. We did wind up hooking up quite a bit though and I had to ask Marty for help on a fish that I had foul hooked. He was downstream from me and I figured I could use some net help. Marty grabbed his net and was getting into position when the fish ran right at his legs. Marty did good to avoid the line but had to take a step backwards in the river and that spelled DUNK. Luckily we were it light current so it was just a quick dunk but if you have ever taken a 42 degree dunk you know exactly what kind of wake up call it is! Nothing like freezing water going down your waders to remind you that you are alive! The best part..... all of it is on the GoPro :-) For those of you reading this in an email I grabbed this quick screen shot of Marty getting his heart settled back down into his chest (video below). I think most of us know exactly how Marty is feeling in this pic!

One noticeable absence on this trip was the BIG (8lb +) fish. Not because we didn't hook any but because I didn't really see many. I think they know how to use the big flow. I dredged in the Avalanche hole for a while but I couldn't hit bottom in the deepest section. I did see some big fish in the fast section between the Avalanche Hole and the Speed Limit Hole. They were holding in pockets that were just about impossible to get to. Even if you did hook one it would be damn near impossible to land it in that heavy water. Trout continue to amaze me.

Great to have The Mart back on the water. Never a dull moment Bud! Really cool to meet Nick and Stephen as well! Hope to see you Dudes on the water again.


MARTY SWIM from Jamie Roth on Vimeo.