Monday, June 23, 2014

Slow morning on the Winooski

I was lucky to fish at all this past weekend.  Friday night, we had dinner with friends from the gym.  Saturday, most of the day was reserved to celebrate my son's birthday.  Sunday, I had to mow the lawn and we were going to a party at another friend's house.  I also needed to get in a run sometime, do some cooking, and I wanted to tie some flies.  That's simply too much for one weekend unless you don't sleep at all.  As much as I would like to decline every single social engagement and just fish, my wife insists that I participate in the non-fishing world at times.  I'm not really sure why, but she is adamant.

After dinner Friday night, we got home at 11:00.  I set my alarm for 4:45 and I was up by 5:15.  I packed the car and my wife and I were off to the Winooski River.  The flows were low, which helped with wading, but the fishing turned out to be pretty slow.  We fished at the confluence of the Mad and the Winooski, a spot that always seems to give up a few fish, and occasionally a big fish.  Because of the low water, we fished it a bit differently than normal.  My plan was to put my wife high in the seam where the clearer waters of the Mad met the murkier waters of the Winooki.  But, despite new wading boots, she was a little bit uncomfortable in the water, so I stayed with her and helped her.  After she worked through a portion of the large hole we were fishing, I would use some longer casts to hit areas she hadn't reached.  We got a few gentle strikes at the top of the pool, but no hook-ups.  I tried an RS2 for the first time this year because there were some BWOs in the air.  Not a lot, but they were there.  After no luck with the RS2, and having lost it, I switched to a green caddis larva.  I had seen a few caddis flies as well and wondered if that might work.  Essentially, we crossed the river above the hole, fishing the top of the pool, then fished down the other side, crossed back, and my wife took a break while I fished the final section we hadn't touched.

I did managed to get one small wild rainbow, on the green nymph.  Hare's ears, various versions of Prince nymphs and PTs did not really get much action.  The water temperature was 62F.  We are now at that part of the year where my thermometer is with me all the time.  I heard that the Otter Creek (really a misnomer - it's a huge river) hit 70F today, so we might be done with that river until September.  That is disappointing to me because I planned to fish the Otter tomorrow.

Back to Saturday...

After we finished at the initial location, we went downstream, to the other side of Waterbury, but above the Bolton power dam.  I posted a picture in a recent post of a big fish I'd taken on the Winooski last fall.  We went to that hole.  There are a number of approaches to this hole, but most of the action seems to come by wading to the middle of the river, above a big hole and then casting towards the shore where we started, letting flies drift into the main part of the pool that way.  Other times, long casts from the other side can be effective as well.  And, it's often effective to let your fly drift in the current, and occasionally strip 3-5 feet of line, letting the fly head downstream.  Pickups are common at the end of these drifts.  Lastly with woolly buggers or muddler minnows or sirloins, fish will take the fly on the strip or while it's being reeled in slowly.

We tried all of these techniques.  We even tried some dries after one huge trout cleared the water completely twice and a third fish also rose.  There were a few light Cahills around, so we tried that pattern with no success.  It seemed like the fish were playing rather than feeding.  Or perhaps they were taunting us.

My wife did manage to hook one fish on the strip and drift method, but it wasn't on too long.  I'm guessing it was a good fish, primarily because I never catch small fish here.  It seems to be a pool full of large wild rainbows and nothing else.

Finally, about 11:00, the sun was high, the wind was making casting difficult, and we needed to head home.  So, we got just one fish for the day, and maybe half a dozen strikes.

Saturday turned into a late night with a nice restaurant dinner for my son's birthday, and when the alarm went off at 4:45 on Sunday, I was exhausted.  This was my only chance to fish on Sunday, and I have to admit that I opted for sleep instead.  It was a bit easier to do that, knowing that I am taking a vacation day to fish tomorrow.

I'm heading to Addison County, the land of big brown trout, for the day tomorrow.  I haven't caught a brown yet this year, and my goal for the day is one large brown trout.  More would be nice, but the goal is size over quantity.  Regretfully, with the Otter at 70 degrees, two of my planned fishing holes are now non-options.  A third spot is perilously close to 70F as well.  I e-mailed the local fishing shop for advice, and told them I'd be stopping by tomorrow.  They told me they can give me some good advice on some cooler streams that hold big browns.  That sounds great to me.  I'll report back on Wednesday.

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