When Your Water is Crowded

My local tailwater is no secret.  It's a 10 mile stretch of water that gets hit hard by fishermen all year.  Twenty inch Brown Trout, that rise to a dry fly within an hour of the Northwests third largest metro area will do that.  But I find ways to deal with that.  I am fortunate enough to live a little closer to the river than most.  It's a 25 minute drive at most for me.  So I am able to pick and choose the times I head out there.  But there are still times when a standard Saturday afternoon (the absolute worst time for crowds on the river) works best for me.  Why stay home just because of the threat of a few people on the river right?  Well I got the opportunity, and I made the trip this past weekend. 

Sure enough just as expected every conceivable run was occupied as I drove up the river.  At least all the runs I was used to fishing were busy.  There were the odd sections of river, that for one reason or other I always drive past, and a couple of these little stretches happened to be the only river unoccuppied on that day.  So I settled into some unfamiliar water on a very familiar river.  This brings me to the bright side of fishing on these busy days.  Finding new water on a river I thought I knew like the back of my hand. 

It turns out it payed off this day.  I did as well in the new spot as I had done in any other stretch of river, ever, and have added another favorite run to a grown list.  So don't let crowds scare you away from the water.  Once in a while it's good to get out there and be forced out of our comfort zone a bit.  We learn and discover new things that make us better fishermen in the long run. 

The FT Skwala after being used and abused by nearly a dozen fish.  Still going strong.

In the net