Saturday when I arrived it was too windy to fish so I sketched and scouted a bit. Sunday I fished with intensity and hooked two big rainbows but one broke my line and the other got off with a good jump close to me. It was very windy and the dry fly specialists were having a tough time, but I was mostly using small nymphs. I thought just hooking two good ones was satisfying enough.

Monday I went back to the same pool and sketched as the fish became accustomed to my presence to resume their subsurface feeding. Eventually I fished and caught two good ones there, and another good one downstream that I spotted walking by. They were sixteen to eighteen inches, not very big for this river but it felt good to spot and fish for them individually in the difficult wind. I often find that sitting and painting brings the observation and quietude that is a key to successful fly fishing.

Over the winter I produced this zinc plate etching.