Fishin' Magician: Dave Graybill

I spent the early evening fly fishing on the Icicle River, and had a great time. The river is very low and easy to wade, and the later it gets the hungrier the fish seem to be. I started around 5 p.m. in on one of my favorite stretches and got just a few takes. When I moved down stream to another hole, about an hour later, I got plenty of action. I started with a Stimulator and found I had much better luck on a Parachute Adams. Later in the evening I even had good action on the Royal Coachman Trude. One thing that I find effective is to allow my fly to sink and then raise my rod tip and skip and slide the fly back to me. The small trout will chase it down and smack it. It's fun to see and works sometimes when they won't hit something floating in the current. Anglers should be able to get the same experience on the Entiat River above the Falls, on the Twist River and the Methow, where much larger trout are available. Anglers who want to try this better get with it. When the temperatures drop in the early fall, the trout in these small streams go dormant.