Dry Flies in January!!

So I decided to hit the river today for a bit.  I left my house as it started to snow and it continued to snow as I drove to one of my favorite spots.  I parked the truck and was greeted with another one of nature's masterpieces.  The combination of the snow covered tree limbs, my favorite river, and the sounds of the water flowing is just something that never gets old.

I put my waders on, laced up my boots, and loaded my chest/back pack with all the essentials.  I usually over pack but today I soon realized that I forgot something.  I have been successful the last few weeks with egg patterns, tiny midges (size 18-22), and streamers.  It is January, so it really never crossed my mind to bring one of my dry fly boxes.

After a pretty long walk (not a big fan of crowds), I rigged up and made myself comfortable near the bank of the river.  I started with a streamer to see if there were any aggressive and hungry trout in the vicinity with no success.  I switched to egg patterns and missed a decent fish as I saw it turn on my hook set.  No less than 10 minutes later, I saw a few fish feeding aggressively on top.  I really have no idea what they were eating.  I actually think they were eating snowflakes.  I'm no dummy, so I decided to throw on a dry fly in hopes of enticing one of these trout.  Uh-Oh...I forgot my dry fly box.  Luckily, I managed to find two dry flies in my chest pack.  Fly #1--Hendrickson Dun & Fly #2--Caddis Emerger.  I decided to go with the caddis.  Good thing I did.  This BEAST ate my fly on the third cast.  Must have fought him for a good ten minutes pushing the limits of my 5X tippet.  I actually think netting him was the most difficult part.  I managed to net 1/2 of him and bear hugged the rest of his body sticking out of my net (and I have a pretty big net).  The reward was this beautiful brown that I was pleased to release for someone else to enjoy....

After my hands stopped shaking, I tried my luck at the others I saw still rising.  I worked the area for about another hour and managed to land a beautiful rainbow...

< After releasing this beauty, I decided to call it a day....due to my sore forearms.  Until next time, TIGHT LINES.