I had not been out since may. My tenkara season block is fall through early spring so I consider this as my first outing.
We have been in drought but I had no idea how bad it was until I fished some tailwater that had been recently stocked. Really low water. I fished a rainy morning from greylight to quarter to nine. Hooked 6 fish landed three in a cheater pool that I know is where they dump the fish. Not very rewarding but wanted to break the ice and also identify what the preferred poison might be. Two of the landed trout were dingy, fat, and dark. They fought like a wet rag. The third landed was a panfish in fall colors. It immedialy went airborne and initally thought it was a brookie because of its bright orange belly. I had never caught a panfish in this water before, so, it took me off guard.
The low water combined with the fall leaf soup made fishing a challenge. The trout takes were subtle and as a result I set the hook on a couple of suspended leaves. It sort of reminded me of the challenges of fishing an ice flow. The leaves act as both stucture to target fish and a hazard that may prevent a good presentation.
The outing had me reflecting on my outings in rain. I am curious if others have had challenging fishing during rain events. I roll back in my experience and cannot remember when I have had an excellent outing fishing for trout in the rain. All the fish I had except one had been taken just at dawn and were huddled in the cheater pool. There was one dropped fish I had, that is unidentified. I suspect that by its size it was either a fall fish or a juvenile trout. Not exactly the best outing or a great start for my season…but it could have been worse.
