Spent an enjoyable day amongst friends today in Cornwall. My two friends signed up for Aaron's Euro nymphing class at HRO, and I volunteered to drive (and fish!). On the ride up, we did a brief river tour of the Naugatuck. The upper Naugy looked beautiful, but I could find no sign of stocked fish, holdover trout or leftover salmon.

I got an early start

and after I dropped them at the class, I snuck out for a bit and landed my first Housy trout of '09


The class was terrific, and both Dave

and Jerry caught on fast


The river is high, but clarity is outstanding, and the river structure ever so pretty


After class, I did a little "guiding" and both of my buddies hooked up, and both were Euro nymphing! Given the high water and tough conditions, I consider this a real achievement. Dave hooked up several times, but was too far for a good picture. Jerry hooked up with a nice fish, but the fish threw the hook before landing. The river seems to have fair numbers of 10-12 fat browns, at least in the upper TMA where we fished. We saw major hatches of tiny black and early black stoneflies, along with epic clouds of midges. It was a great day.

The guys switched off between my Greys 10ft 3wt and Sage 10ft 5wt and it was painfully obvious that the Greys is a superior Euro nymphing tool. I did rig up an indicator so they could see the benefit of the heavier, stiffer rod (Sage).

I wasted a lot of time today worrying about lost keys (and using my spare), when in reality, my key ring had somehow slipped down my waders and in to the toe of my boot (and I never felt it!)

All in all a great day.