Jigged River Rainbows

I think I caught the last two trout from the same spot as a month ago, because I fished it thoroughly after catching my second one. The first was a little over 15 inches and chunky, the second 14 inches and lean. I later found the stomachs of both of them full, however. Packed with scuds, and the smaller trout had some interesting nematodes in its stomach, too. I wasn't fishing conservation water. I do know a spot downstream a few miles where rainbows survive summer, but in any event, my wife likes trout for dinner, and we all know what day it is.

Nice orange flesh these trout had, too. That might not be a hatchery product. Maybe it's from the scuds they eat in the river.

First trout slammed a VMC maribou jig with a little flashabou that really lights up in the clear water with sun overhead. I got that snagged after the knot had weakened, tied on a black Haggerty maribou jig, and caught the second trout. Sometime afterwards, I waded on downstream, found my VMC on the river bottom, and soaked my right arm to the pit reaching for it. The water's cold. That's a fact. Maybe 42 degrees. Don't know for sure. But it didn't feel so cold, and like once before when I ice fished, I felt that if I were to go in, I could handle it. 

Fact: I'd be dead soon if I weren't to get out. But I think much of the shock and pain of water cold in the extreme has to do with human vulnerability. It's possible to know you have an immediate adrenaline rush on your side, if you will take that side and block out the pain. 

 

 Microlight