Still, I love being out there with her. It's time we can share together. It was fun to simultaneously hook some browns last week, even though neither of us landed the fish. But, on Monday of this week, she went back to work and I still had three days of vacation time. - time that I'd be fishing alone.
Monday, I headed north to the Black River. There are (at least) 2 Black Rivers in Vermont - one in the southeast portion of the state that empties into the Connecticut River and one in northern Vermont that empties into Lake Memphremagog. The southern Black River is a well known trout stream and it can be crowded at times. The northern Black River seems to be much less well known, and I've never seen another fisherman on that river. Last September, I had a very fun 8-fish day on that river.
I started this Monday a few miles upstream from the town of Coventry. In this part of the river, the primary fish are small wild rainbows. The water was a little bit higher and cloudier than I expected, and not long after getting started, I changed my 2-nymph rig into a white bugger with a trailing BWO nymph. On my third or fourth cast with the new set-up, I hooked a fish, but I never saw which fly it had taken. A bit later, after no action for a while, and after losing my nymph to a snag, I switched to a small beadhead PT nymph. Almost immediately, I hooked and lost a fish. A few minutes later, I hooked and landed a feisty rainbow in fast water. Fifteen minutes later, I hooked a slightly bigger fish in fast water, and after a nice fight, it threw the hook just as I was about to net it. And then, things died. I went 2 hours without another strike. I even went into the town of Coventry and fished for a while at the falls. This spot usually gives up at least a couple browns on stripped white woolly buggers. Be careful not to fish this spot early in the year. It is closed for fishing to protect spawning rainbows in the spring. I think it opens on 6/1 every season.
So, despite an interesting period of time when the fish were "on", the day ended with only one rainbow in the net. But, I'd had 3+ hours of fishing time just for me, and I'd had some strikes and hook-ups. This was much better than any day the previous week.
On Tuesday, I headed to the Winooski. I got to the river at 2:30 in the afternoon and I was surprised by the number of people fishing mid-afternoon on a week day. Doesn't anybody have a job anymore? Luckily, a popular spot that I fish on occasion was not occupied. Both parking spots for this area were empty. On the weekends, both are full all the time. This spot is a long riffle leading into a sharp corner up against a stone face. The best fishing tends to be higher in the riffle, in the moderately deep water, but the current is fast there. I started with my rig from the day before - a white woolly bugger and a PT nymph. This is a frequent tactic of mine. Rather than change flies right as I arrive at a stream, I'll start with what is on my rod while I look into the water and into the air to see what insects I can find. After 10 minutes with no strikes, I'd seen plenty of BWOs and one Northern Case Maker caddis. I had the appropriate nymphs for these insects, but they weren't weighted and they were small. So, I switched to a sinking tip leader and went with a 3-fly rig - size 14 Beadhead Prince Nymph to help get the flies down, size 16 orange caddis pupa, and size 18 ju ju baetis. I continued to fish where I'd started, and after about 10 casts or so, decided to move downstream. One thing I always do when I move up or down there days is leave my flies in the water. You never know when just moving down or up a bit can lead to a strike, and that can't happen if the flies aren't in the water.
Just as I completed my 3rd or so step downsteam, I got a strike and hooked a fish. It turned out to be a holdover stocked rainbow that had taken the baetis nymph. Over the next hour, I caught 5 more fish, but surprisingly, they were all browns. I got 1 on the prince nymph, 2 on the caddis, and 2 more on the baetis. I rarely catch browns in the Winooski, so getting 5 was quite a surprise. And, if I hadn't been paying attention, I could have completely missed that they were browns, and assumed they were light colored rainbows:
This is some of the lightest coloring I've ever seen on a brown trout, and all 5 of them were similar.
I kind of hated to leave this spot, but with about an hour of daylight left, I wanted to try a spot upstream that holds some big fish. The river was really crowded by now, as the 9-5 workday people had descended on this stretch. Someone immediately grabbed my parking space as I drove away, and I saw at least a dozen fishermen on the river during my drive upstream. I was pretty sure my second destination would be empty, although it seems like more and more people are finding this spot these days.
The spot was empty, but the fishing was challenging. Due to slower currents, I had to get rid of the sinking tip leader. Otherwise, I kept the same fly rig. I managed one wild rainbow on the baetis just after sunset, but that was it. Even though a full moon was rising behind me and I intended to fish into the darkness for a bit (I was wishing that I had some mouse patterns with me), that ended abruptly when some kids who live nearby started throwing large stones into the water near me. I yelled to them a few times but only heard laughter in return. Rather than risking a rock in the noggin, I called it a night. But, 7 fish in a day was my best day in months.
Yesterday was my last day of vacation. The weather forecast called for intermittent rain. My son needed to use the car in the morning. My daughter had a 4:00 soccer game. This limited my time, so I opted to fish the Third Branch of the White. This is a river that has been challenging to me for years, despite the fact that I can access it less than 2 miles from my house. But, it seems to finally be recovering from Hurricane Irene and the number of wild fish is definitely on the rise. Due to my limited time, I had to fish quickly - a few casts in each hole and then move on. This allowed me to cover over half a mile of water in less than 2 hours. Early on, while still in a tributary named Ayers Brook, a fish flashed at the bugger, but never struck. Fifteen minutes later, in a hole that was crystal clear, I noticed my woolly bugger being sucked under a branch, and I was afraid of a snag. I pulled the fly back to try to avoid the snag and was shocked to discover that I'd hooked a brown on my trailing PT nymph. I don't know if the change in direction triggered the strike, or if the timing was just lucky. Either way, I managed to catch a stunningly beautiful wild brown:
The rest of the fishing resulted in no strikes at all, although I wish I'd had another hour to fish the last 2 big holes. I hiked through town, back to my car, and caught the second half of my daughter's soccer game. And just like that, my vacation is over.
However, fishing season is far from over. There are 3 weeks left in the regular season, and I can fish the lower Otter, lower Winooski and lower White all winter if I want. I'm sure I'll be out there again this weekend, with or without my wife.
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