Chad Pettrone

Upper Waterdale Ranch 7/29 Chris and Nick

• By Chad Pettrone
• 31 July, 2013
• No Comments

It was a pleasure to fish with a couple of likeminded and experienced fly fisherman.  Chris has been fly fishing for a longtime and has the same values for wild fish that I have.  Nick is a good fly fisherman but hadn’t had the experience of landing nice size fish.  Waterdale Ranch was the perfect place to have Nick work on his skills.  We started off with 2 rods rigged up, one nymph fishing rod for Nick, and a dry dropper rig with Chris.  The hot fly of the morning was a simple size 16 white caddis nymph that I tie, it has a thick diameter white cotton thread body and black head.  The chernobyl ant dry fly that was on Chris’s line picked up a couple explosive hits as well.  We finished off the first hole with a heavy black streamer and picked up a couple more bows.

We made our way up river, and then the rain started.   We fished some nymphs and streamers through a couple holes that normally produce fish, but nobody was home.  Then we tried one last spot before going to get the rain jackets and eat lunch, and BOOM, as soon as the streamer hit the far bank a rainbow creamed the fly for Chris.  Chris stripped the fish in hot and we played a little hot potato, scrambling to get the fish in hand so we could pop the hook out.

After lunch we hit my favorite section of water.  We setup shop and did a lot of catching on both the streamer rod and the nymph rig.  The added rain for the day inspired me to switch flies to a red san juan worm that worked really well.  But before the switch, Nick caught his first fish ever on the streamer and Chris hooked a nice fish on a size 22 RS2.    This was the hole of the day.  We caught lots of nice sized stocked rainbows that were fun to play with.

After all the stockers, it was nice to hear Chris’s passion for wild fish, as I believe all passionate fisherman eventually come to a respect for what a natural environment can produce and sustain.  That’s why I dedicate this little fish, as the fish of the day.  I think Chris was more happy to catch this wild rainbow than any other of the fish for the day.  Good job guys, hope to see you again sometime.