Hardly any hatching was going on, so very few trout were surfacing. The one trout I got was on a BWO. It seemed that fewer trout overall were in this area. Maybe people are catching and keeping. The good news is that twice I saw a very large trout leap out of the water in pursuit of something. It had to be 20 inches. I tried to catch it, but never saw it surface while I was trying.

The blizzard of midges (that's my best guess) sent the trout into a feeding frenzy. Mostly they were gulping just below the surface. I tried matching the hatch, but it wouldn't work. By far, this was the most activity of the evening, and I could only manage one strike. There must have been 10 trout working the surface within casting range. Another of the many lessons I've failed to learn.

It looked like some combination of little black stoneflies, BWO 's and Hendrickson's were coming off sporadically. They didn't matter much because everything I caught hit my nymph droppers. Landed four or five, and had many more hits. All of them were fairly small, but none had fin clips. Could they all have been holdovers? Or even naturals? Maybe.

Also went further upstream to Algoma and 12 Mile where the action was even slower. Great day to be out. Bright sunshine, high near 70.

Jim and I showed up there after work and headed downstream aways because an angler was firmly planted just below the bridge. We fished some of the deeper holes and holding water with bead head nymphs. I caught one rainbow and one brown -- both may have been around for a while since neither had a fin-clip.

The rain and lightning delayed our fishing for 20 minutes or so, but we soon moved back upstream toward the bridge. Once there, it was hard to keep the twinkie trout off our hooks. It was great fun to catch 'em and let 'em go.

It didn't take long to find our first targets. I hooked and landed an 8 pound male after my fifth cast of the day. What a great way to start! He took a pink egg right in the corner of his mouth.

We stopped at many promising holes and pretty much anywhere we could spot fish. We saw a fair amount of fresh gravel, but no steelhead were working it. Probably because it was a clear, sunny day. Most all the fish we spotted were holding in deep runs or cruising in deep pools. The water was low for this time of year, which means we banged into many of the rocks but not most.

Both of us had a few other hits during the day. They were hard to come by as the steelhead were spooky and began thinning out as we approached the Grand.

While we saw a fair number of salmon throughout the river, they were mostly dispersed. Just two or three at a time, with at least a bend in the river between them.

The weather was pretty nice, getting up into the 50s and mostly sunny. The low water also made canoeing a bit difficult. We ran into plenty of rocks and scraped bottom frequently.

A reminder to myself and all others who go on a float trip -- don't forget the keys to the car you dropped downstream.

Did I catch trout? Of course. I caught more 7-inch trout than I could keep track of. They're everywhere. The neatest part was to look at what kind I caught and to see if their fins were clipped.

When I got there around 6:30, the trout were surfacing actively. In retrospect, they seemed to be taking emergers, because my dry fly, a cinnamon caddis, got no attention. While my dropper, a bead head hares ear got more attention from the frisky hatchery-raised trout. Landed just one 7-inch rainbow with that rig. I should have tied on an emerger.

After that initial burst of activity, things quieted down for about an hour or so.

Surface feeding resumed as the sun went down. I had a hard time getting anything to hit my dry flies, despite trying several kinds. I found the right fly with a spent-wing pattern. A tough 11-inch brown hit it hard. He went back in the Rogue to be caught again.

Lots of other guys out today. I counted 14 cars parked in the area, and ran into about ten anglers. Nobody had anything good to say about the fishing, other than it being a 60 degree day. Nothing wrong with that.

I didn't get any hits, or see any fish. But I found a couple of nice pools worth trying again.

The water was very clear, and even seemed a little low, despite the recent rain. Didn't see any hatch activity, but that wasn't a suprise.

Using a small hopper as an indicator and bead head hare's ear as a dropper, I caught four small rainbows within 20 yards of the bridge. The biggest was probably 7 inches. Nothing to brag about, but a nice way to spend an hour on a warm summer evening.

The fishing was a bit slow on this warm, humid evening. I saw no hatch activity so I used a royal wulff as an attractor/indicator and a bead head pheasant tail as a dropper. I actually had one strike on the royal wulff, but didn't catch anything until switching to a parachute adams. I found one nice pocket of water behind a log and caught two small trout on the adams. I hung out after dark waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

There didn't seem to be a consistent hatch on, so I tried all the nymph, emerger and dry fly patterns of a sulpher mayfly. I got a few strikes, but nothing that would stick.

Out of desperation, I tied on an ant pattern and tossed at a rising trout near the bank. Because the water is so still through this section, he got a really good look at it and hit it hard. A few minutes later, I landed a fiesty 12" brown trout.

Just for fun I also tried a royal wulff and got a strike but no trout.

Weather today was very warm and sunny so the mosquito count was tolerable.

I tied on a Hendrickson and soon landed one rainbow and three browns. The largest was about 14 inches. All put up a good fight.

Most of the active fish were in the "flatter" parts of the river near an open field, rather than in the wooded area. This was great for me because the mosquitos in the woods were tenacious. At least in the open they were tolerable.

I also tried a Hendrickson emerger for a while and it produced a few strikes, but I couldn't get anything to stay on the line.

The water was at about normal levels and slightly discolored, so wading was easy.

Anyways, I went farther upstream than I had before. You can walk along the bank opposite of the paper mill for at least a half mile and maybe longer. Above the riffley area around the bridge the water flattens and slows. There are quite a few springs entering the stream here. Around another bend there is a good area of fast water and some deep holes. I thought this looked like the most promising spot for some summer trout.

I didn't go upstream any further because there were a bunch of guys fishing. I'll have to explore a little further next time.

I forgot to mention the mosquitos on Sunday. They were just as bad today. Constant buzzing and biting. At least today I wore bug spray. That helped, but my wool gloves helped more. I need netting for my head.

Fished at the pond for a little bit and caught a 3-inch fish. I believe it was a bluegill. It was the biggest one I saw. Lots of them were 1 or 2 inches. They all tried to bite at my nymph but couldn't get it into their mouths. Also saw lots of sign of deer around the river and heard one snort by the private property.

Finally started seeing some surface a quarter mile upstream. Caught one rainbow there and moved further upstream to where several logs crossed the river. I had to cross the river myself to fish it right. Ended up catching six or seven rainbows and brookies in one hole. Used a hares ear bead head to catch them all. Used some dries for a while but there wasn't much surface action.

An easier access to this spot can be found by parking next to the field along 12 Mile Road and walking to the river. There's also a pond there that looks like it might hold fish.

All the trout were pretty much the same size, from 8 to 12 inches, obviously planted. It took only 15 minutes to drive to the river.

Redwood had a good time running around. We hiked maybe a mile upstream to where there are signs indicating private property. There looks to be some good holes up here. Saw two other guys who were looking for somewhere to fish. When they saw me, they took off downstream and I never saw them again. Still haven't seen any fish through here.

I left Redwood at home because I thought there would be homes close to the river here. Next time, I'll bring him because there is lots of land on both sides of the river for him to run.

Spoke to a guy there who said steelhead is much better in the spring. Easy to wade even with the ice. The guy said the water was higher than normal. He was about my age and a hard-core fly-fisher.

On the way back, I drove past my new home on Dale. The river access is 15 minutes from the house. Excellent!