Couldn't find anyone who wanted to go. Got up Saturday morning and thought about the 3 hour drive there and 3 hours back and opted to go to the upper Skagit instead. The first hour or so was pretty slow, lots of perfect trout water, but only one taker. I tried a variety of dries and a few nymphs as well, but couldn't seem to solve the problem. About a couple of kilometers downriver from my starting point I spotted a fish rising consistently right next to a logg lying just off the far shore. I dropped a perfect cast next to the log and drifted over the trout...nada. I did it again-perfect cast, perfect drift,same result. After 3 more repeats, I pulled in my fly and switched to a green sedge pattern. Again the cast lands next to the log, again the drift right in the feeding lane, and this time a beautiful take. The 3 wt. bent over for a couple of minutes and I had a 14" rainbow to hand. The log was at the head of a 20 yd long pool that over the next 1/2 hour revealed that it held at least 6 more 'bows, the largest of which was a measured 15". I left and headed back upstream, fishing the green sedge through waters I had tested before. I released about a 1/2 dozen more fish before I got back to my truck.
It wasn't the Thompson and its big rainbows, but it turned out to be a fun day (and with a 3 wt, the smaller fish do give ya a thrill). At the end of the day, driving home tired from Hope to Coquitlam, I realized that I had made the right decision by not going to Spences Bridge.