Rainy, Cool Weather and a Few Nice Rainbow Trout

When I woke up the other morning, trout fishing wasn't on my list of things to do, but as the morning progressed into the early afternoon, I thought to myself, "Even though it looks like it might rain, why don't you go fishing?" I sat there for a moment and realized that winter was going to be here before I knew it and I wasn't going to get many more drift fishing opportunities for the next eight months, so I stopped what I was doing and loaded the car.

 It took about a half an hour to reach the river and then another twenty or so minutes to reach the area that I wanted to fish. I had caught a ton of rainbow trout from this stretch of river a couple of weeks earlier and had hooked one that was more than likely in the "trophy" category so my spirits were high.  As I made my first cast I couldn't help but smell the fresh air and feel the cool air temperature through the Wristies that were protecting my hands and realized as I often do when I'm standing thigh deep in a flowing trout river how much I love the act of trout fishing. 

After thirty or so minutes of drift fishing without as much as a nibble I was beginning to think that maybe the trout God's weren't going to cooperate with me on this day, and then I felt the familiar pull that so often means that a nice rainbow trout is biting the end of my line.  I set the hook and the fight was on.  Fifteen or so minutes later I was admiring a healthy 20 inch rainbow trout. 

I let that trout go, re-baited, repositioned myself and made another cast.  Mid way through the drift, Wam!, I had another healthy rainbow hooked.  This fish wasn't as long as the previous trout, it only measured about fifteen inches, but was easily four to five inches wide, which made her a very healthy rainbow trout as well. 

By the time my quick fishing trip was over I had caught and released six rainbow trout that were from twelve to twenty inches long and I left the river with a smile on my face.  As I hiked back to my vehicle, crossed the river, and climbed the hill towards my vehicle I couldn't help but give thanks to whatever forces converge to make the fall such a fabulous time of the year for trout fishing.