I had Veterans Day off, so I headed over the mountain to Hot Springs to try to catch a few freshly stocked trout in the DH stretch of Spring Creek. The sight of three guys fishing at the bridge made me think that everyone else had the same idea, but where I got in at the old red bridge there was not another person in sight. I started off with a woolly bugger tied on a "Trout Magnet" jig hook, and when I caught a stocked brook trout on the first cast, I decided I would take a picture of every fish I caught and tally up the number when I got home. I fished from the end of the rock wall downstream to the bridge with the streamer, back upstream with a pink nymph, and back downstream with a stimulator dragged across the surface (stocked brookies can't resist a skittering dry fly!). I caught bunches of fish with each technique.
While I was fishing the stretch above the red bridge, I noticed a couple of spectators. Two middle-school aged girls were watching me from the bank, and when I started to get out to take a dinner break, they struck up a conversation with me. They had noticed me taking pictures of all the fish, so one asked if I wanted her to take my picture. I said yes but made her promise not to run off with my camera! Since I am usually fishing by myself, there are not many pictures of me, so here is a rare shot of the Troutbum in full fall fishing regalia!
After a sandwich and Dr Pepper, I decided to fish downstream from the red bridge. Although the bridge marks the downstream end of the delayed harvest water, there are usually a few trout that find there way down there. I fished downstream with a streamer and caught a fish on nearly every cast - the water was pretty shallow, and the fish were pushing up a wave in front of them trying to get to the fly! By then the sun had gone down and the temperature was dropping, but trout in the flat water had started sipping midges, so I tied on a #24 midge dry fly and caught several more fish. By the way, there were a couple of posted signs on trees on the left bank looking downstream, but when I went back a couple of weeks ago, there is now a posted sign AND purple paint on nearly every tree on both sides of the creek!
When I saw a raccoon scurrying down the other bank, I figured it was about time to call it a day. After I got home, I tallied up the total - 75 trout! I caught 57 brookies, 10 browns, and 8 rainbows. The size ranged from a couple that were 8 inches to a couple that were 14 inches, with 71 others somewhere in between! What a fun way to enjoy a day off work! Enjoy the slideshow below!