Tools of the trade

There are many things I carry with me on the river, but two are very important when it comes to solving mysteries a seine and a fish pump. The seine will tell you what is in the river to help you narrow down fly selection to some searching patterns, but the pump will tell you what fish are really eating. Today was a classic example of how these tools can make or break a day on the water. I hit the Savage around 11 am and was picking up a few fish on the march brown nymph I was using, but nothing to right home about. I finally caught a fish big enough to pump usually around 13 inches is a good size and its stomach was filled with size 20 green caddis emergers. There were caddis flying around, but not enough to surmise that the fish were keying in on them. That is why the fish pump is so important! I ran into another problem after looking through my fly box I found the perfect pattern in the wrong color. I always carry about a dozen sharpies with me just in case that happens. I colored the fly and preceded to lose count of the number of fish I caught. It just goes to show you that a few simple tools can be the difference between no fish and tons of fish.