Late Fall Tributary Trout With Joe K

Joe with his first of the morning

Trying to catch up!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to get out with a new friend from Pennsylvania – Joe Kayafas.

We made plans to meet up at some local water, and do our best to put a hurtin’ on some big lake run trout. The only problem was the large amount of angler traffic that had continued to pick on the fish day after day. So when Joe called me saying that there were already eleven cars parked at the pull off to our “Plan A” spot, we quickly came up with a “Plan B.” And as it would turn out, “Plan B” worked out just fine. 

We found our own little spot upstream, and in it, plenty of big lake run trout to throw a fly at.

My first on the swing

I started off the morning by trying the egg pattern that I still had rigged up from the last outing, but after a few drifts, a snag, and a lost fly, I switched it up and re-rigged with a big old rabbit strip streamer. With the brown trout starting to come off the spawn I thought this would be a good change of pace from the constant dead drifting that we had been doing for weeks now. Ten minutes later I was glad I made the change, when mid way through the swing, toward the tailout of the pool, I got rewarded with a big pull and a flash of gold. A few minutes later I was on the board with a small but feisty hen brown trout. 

My first steel on the swing

Joe was up next, and he did not disappoint! A few drifts into his rotation he hooked up with a very nice fish, but it broke him off. He switched up flies and another five minutes later was again into a very nice fish. This time the angler came out on top, as I helped put my hands around the tail of a very nice female brown. I took a few photos for Joe, and he released her.

 

Over the next hour or so, we each hooked up with a few more fish. Mine came on the swing while Joe kept pace with nymphs. And I am happy to say that I was able to hook up and land my first and second steelhead on the swing for the fall. 

All in all a great morning of fishing.

You can check out Joe's website here whatsajob614.blogspot.com