I'm late to the discussion here. An interesting although uncommon scenario is when you are approaching a large plunge pool such as this, and the pool boss is actually positioned such that he is facing downstream and sees you approaching. I encountered an 18" brown that did this and would bolt under a bedrock ledge at the first sight of something approaching from downstream. He'd hang out under the ledge for an hour before coming back out and retaking his original position in the pool. From the surface, the current appeared normal but upon closer inspection, the current along the bottom of the pool swirled bringing food right to the fish in this position. In short, the fish had a great vantage point for watching for predators while having to expend little energy to eat and was extremely close to its hideout. It took me several attempts to finally catch the fish. The moral of the story is that not every plunge pool fishes the same for a variety of reasons, and you have to adapt to put yourself in the best position to succeed. Just because you don't catch a large fish where you think you should, doesn't mean there aren't any there. Figuring out the intricacies of a particular pool and those that inhabit it are key. Had I not spotted that fish bolt out of the corner of my eye the first time I encountered him, I likely would not have been back since the stream has a mixed pop and is not known for having anything larger than 12".
