Haystack

I was on the West Branch on Friday and the water temp was 44 degrees in the catch and release area. The fishing was slow. Yesterday afternoon I took a trip over to the Saranac river with my brother; let's just say we went to a very popular spot for both fly fishermen and worm guys. The water's temp was 50 degrees and there were a ton of caddis on the water. I nymphed for awhile, until I noticed a lone trout rising to caddis on the far bank. I didn't want to miss my opportunity to catch my first fish of the season on a dry fly, so I waded the chest-deep water to the far side of the river. I first tried a caddis emerger. The trout refused the fly, so I switched to a size 14 rusty (orange) haystack. The trout nailed it, but I jumped the gun, setting the hook too fast and sending my fly into the tree branches about 20 feet above my head. Taking a deep breath, I broke my fly off along with most of my tippet and proceeded to tie new tippet and another size 14 haystack to my line. I waited a couple of minutes until the trout started to rise again. I made a decent roll cast, placing my fly about 20 feet upriver from the feeding trout. The fly floated downstream; it was a perfect dead drift. Sure enough, the trout took the fly. I waited a split second and gently set the hook. I had the fish on; it fought slowly. It wasn't a monster fish, but it was a real beauty: a 16 inch brown. Not a bad fish for my first of the season on a dry fly.