On Saturday, my wife needed to take my daughter back to Syracuse for her sophomore year. Well, we were both going to go, but my daughter had so much stuff that I couldn't fit into the car. I tried to act disappointed (I truly would have enjoyed the time with my daughter and would have been glad to keep my wife company on the drive home), but immediately began planning some fishing instead.
Even though the White River has seen temps drop, I decided to try another stretch of water that I try to hit at least once a year. It's a stretch of the Black River, upstream from Coventry, where the river goes through a forest, rather than the open pasture land that it meanders through for a lot of its journey in that area. It's not a hard spot to find - just off Route 14. If you use Google maps, and follow the river path, look for wooded areas.
This stretch offers almost a mile of fishing in the trees, but the lower 400 yards or so are where I tend to do best. My very first step was to measure the water temperature. With so much of the river running through open fields, it can get pretty warm. But, I found the water to be 67F in mid-afternoon, so everything was fine. I started with some standard nymphs - Prince and Hare's ear. On my third or fourth cast, I felt a tepid strike, a fish jumped, and that was that. I don't know if I ever really had a chance to hook him or not, but he seemed to spit the fly very quickly. From there, I started working downstream.
As I moved from hole to hole, I was surprised by the complete lack of strikes. Normally, this 400 yard stretch yields a strike in almost every hole and 5-10 fish in the 90-120 minutes it takes me to cover the water.
After nothing in about 6 consecutive holes, I got to my "can't miss" hole. The first time I fished this stretch of water, my son skipped a riffle followed by a pool by a big rock in the river. He had his eyes on some nicer looking water downstream and walked right past this spot. I stepped in and took three fish quickly. I've never failed to catch a fish in this pool, and obviously never failed to have a strike. But on Saturday, nothing. The next few holes are also usually very productive and I had no strikes at all.
At this point, after driving 90+ minutes, I was surprised and disappointed. I knew that fishing in the White the week before had been dead until the last 30 minutes before sunset. So, I could wait it out and see if the fishing turned on later.
Or, I could go to the falls in Coventry and see if I could lure a big brown from the depths of the water below the falls. Or, I could head towards home and fish the Lamoille, Winooski or Dog.
I was thinking about my choices as I walked back to my car. When I got to the car, I decided to try the hole where I'd started again. On my first cast, I hooked a fish that felt pretty strong, but I think it was just the current that made a small fish feel bigger. Regretfully, the fish spit my fly almost immediately. I toyed with the idea of re-fishing the stretch I'd just hit, hoping the fish were turning on, but instead, I got in my car and headed towards home.
I decided I'd fish the Dog on the way home. I didn't have a lot of light left, so I opted for my favorite hole on the river. The first thing I discovered is that my standard parking spot now sports a "No Parking" sign. That meant a different parking spot and a long walk to the river. But, I had time.
As I finally got to the water, after fighting my way through a forest of Japanese knotweed, I noticed a few bugs in the air. Fishing the White most of the time, hatches of any sort are pretty rare. These were BWOs, and I was mostly interested in bigger fish, so I went with a size 12 BWO. On one of my earlier casts, in the lower part of the stretch I was fishing, a small fish batted the fly. I've caught small fish in this hole before, but large fish as well. I was happy to see that my fly seemed too big for the smaller fish.
I had a couple more fake strikes from small fish as I worked to the top of the hole. The key spot in this hole is some calm water created by a rock in the river. Just below that rock, the water holds some big fish, and a friend had taken an 18" rainbow when I showed him this hole.
On my very first cast into that key spot, my fly was inhaled as soon as it touched the water. The fish ended up being about 15" - a wild rainbow. It looked like it had had an encounter with an osprey - an injury on its back near the dorsal fin, but it seemed quite healthy and fat otherwise. The fish had taken the fly very deep - close to the gills, and I simply couldn't get the fly out. Part of the problem I have is my close-up vision, which is terrible. I have flip-down magnifiers, but they aren't very useful when a fish is trying to flop around. I got the fish back in the water in my net, and pulled out my reading glasses. Even with them, I couldn't reach the fly and I eventually gave up and clipped the line. The fly was barbless, so I'm hoping it worked out on its own.
It was getting darker, so I tried a different fly - an attractor pattern that was easy to see. A few casts later, I took another rainbow just as the fly started to sink into the film. Then, that fly wouldn't float any more, even after some Loon Top Ride, so I switched back to a smaller BWO. Again, some smaller fish batted at it, but no hookups. Now, it was getting fairly dark, and I had to walk back to my car on a curvy road with no shoulders. I hate doing this walk in the dark. So, I called it a day.
So, the spot that I expected to give me some easy wild rainbows completely skunked me. And the Dog, which fishes better every year since Hurricane Irene, gave me two nice bows. One of these years, I swear I'm going to catch one of the big browns that inhabit the Dog. At least 2/3 of the fish I take from the Dog are bows, and the browns I get are all juveniles. But, sooner or later, I'll get a big brown out of there.
With the holiday weekend coming up, I have family visiting for part of the weekend. But, Sunday is reserved for a day on the Battenkill with a friend. I've never fished the Battenkill, and we delayed this trip from a couple weeks ago until this weekend. My biggest concern is water levels, which are down all across the state.
After an extremely wet spring and June, it's gotten a lot drier the past few weeks, and while river temperatures are OK with our cooler nights, the flows are getting kind of low.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Prince Nymphs all evening
I managed to find some sub-70F water this past Sunday. Regretfully, I also picked a popular spot to fish, although I think I was the only person to get into some fish.
I got to the river about 6:00 p.m. and immediate checked the water temperature. It turned out it was cool enough to fish and even cool enough that I was questioning my decision to wet wade. Flows had come up a bit in the White from storms earlier in the week. While they were on their way back down, there was more water than the last time I'd been in the White.
I started with a double nymph rig - a Fly Formerly Known As Prince in purple (of course) and a juju baetis. I fished for over an hour with no luck. By this point in time, I had one fisherman upstream and 4 downstream, so I just stayed in one hole. I've had a lot of luck in that hole the past two years, and it's where I hooked a big brown three weeks earlier.
But, things were dead. I did work downstream a bit, being careful to stay out of the way of the people already there. I walked upstream to where a newbie was flailing with a Hendrickson dry that he couldn't get to float. I suggested a different fly and some different techniques, and even offered him a fly, but he declined.
I noticed that as I was helping him, another inexperienced fly fisherman had moved into the hole I'd been fishing. Suddenly, I had no water to fish and I decided I didn't like the crowds, and I'd just go home.
But, it was only 7:15 with a 7:49 sunset, so I just stepped back instead, changed flies (beadhead Prince Nymph, size 14, and a Rainbow Warrior in size 20). Not long after I'd gotten the flies changed, the fisherman left the hole I'd been in earlier. I stepped back in, and on my 3rd or 4th cast, I almost had the rod ripped out of my hands by a strike. Despite the viciousness of the strike, I failed to hook the fish.
But, as sunset got closer and the sun left the water, the fish became more active. I started getting strikes regularly, and I hooked a few. I got three wild rainbows to the net, all on the Prince Nymph.
About 8:00, the street lights on the bridge above me turned on. And with that, the fishing turned off. After 10 minutes with no more strikes, I headed home. But, three wild rainbows caught after I had considered going home was a nice little reward for my patience. In my previous day out, I'd taken 5 smaller wild rainbows in a tributary of the White.
But, while I normally fish 40+ days per year, this was only day number 11 for this year. I haven't caught a fish over 12" yet this year. To be honest, I've hardly caught any fish at all.
Cancer sucks and it stole half of this season from me. I still have some vacation time planned for next month, but this will certainly be my worst fishing season in a long time, in terms of fish caught.
And, I have no way of knowing if next year will be better or not.
Next weekend, I'm taking my daughter back to college for the year, so I might not get to fish at all. On Labor Day Weekend, I'm hoping to fish the Battenkill.
I got to the river about 6:00 p.m. and immediate checked the water temperature. It turned out it was cool enough to fish and even cool enough that I was questioning my decision to wet wade. Flows had come up a bit in the White from storms earlier in the week. While they were on their way back down, there was more water than the last time I'd been in the White.
I started with a double nymph rig - a Fly Formerly Known As Prince in purple (of course) and a juju baetis. I fished for over an hour with no luck. By this point in time, I had one fisherman upstream and 4 downstream, so I just stayed in one hole. I've had a lot of luck in that hole the past two years, and it's where I hooked a big brown three weeks earlier.
But, things were dead. I did work downstream a bit, being careful to stay out of the way of the people already there. I walked upstream to where a newbie was flailing with a Hendrickson dry that he couldn't get to float. I suggested a different fly and some different techniques, and even offered him a fly, but he declined.
I noticed that as I was helping him, another inexperienced fly fisherman had moved into the hole I'd been fishing. Suddenly, I had no water to fish and I decided I didn't like the crowds, and I'd just go home.
But, it was only 7:15 with a 7:49 sunset, so I just stepped back instead, changed flies (beadhead Prince Nymph, size 14, and a Rainbow Warrior in size 20). Not long after I'd gotten the flies changed, the fisherman left the hole I'd been in earlier. I stepped back in, and on my 3rd or 4th cast, I almost had the rod ripped out of my hands by a strike. Despite the viciousness of the strike, I failed to hook the fish.
But, as sunset got closer and the sun left the water, the fish became more active. I started getting strikes regularly, and I hooked a few. I got three wild rainbows to the net, all on the Prince Nymph.
About 8:00, the street lights on the bridge above me turned on. And with that, the fishing turned off. After 10 minutes with no more strikes, I headed home. But, three wild rainbows caught after I had considered going home was a nice little reward for my patience. In my previous day out, I'd taken 5 smaller wild rainbows in a tributary of the White.
But, while I normally fish 40+ days per year, this was only day number 11 for this year. I haven't caught a fish over 12" yet this year. To be honest, I've hardly caught any fish at all.
Cancer sucks and it stole half of this season from me. I still have some vacation time planned for next month, but this will certainly be my worst fishing season in a long time, in terms of fish caught.
And, I have no way of knowing if next year will be better or not.
Next weekend, I'm taking my daughter back to college for the year, so I might not get to fish at all. On Labor Day Weekend, I'm hoping to fish the Battenkill.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Getting tough to find cool water
The White River, below where the Third Branch joins the main branch, is way too warm to fish right now. The Third Branch just gets so warm, and pushes up the temperature below the confluence. I'm guessing some mornings have been OK, but I'm more of an evening fisherman. I just hate getting out of bed super early unless I'm on a fishing vacation.
Last week, I was able to go upstream from Bethel, about 5 miles, and find 67F water. I know that most fly fishermen cut off their fishing at 70F, but I usually use 68F as my cutoff. I've seen too many fish struggle even at 68F, so I use the lower number.
Last night, about 4 miles upstream from Bethel, the water was over 70F.
But, I found a tributary where I measured a 67F. Game on.
Plus, I love this little tributary. It is full of small wild bows that are willing to come to the surface for small attractor dries, even without hatches. I catch more fish on dry flies here than anywhere else I fish. Only the Dog River comes close, and those are bigger fish. But, I bet the Dog is too warm right now as well.
Did I mention that these are all wild fish? They are so beautiful compared to the stockies in the main river right now.
Anyway, I almost always fish the same stretch of water in this tributary. I have never seen another fisherman on the water when I've been there. I will occasionally find footprints. Last night, I found a package from a Cabela's leader. It was a 9 foot, 4x leader. I usually fish 6x in this water and you don't really need long leaders. The fish are pretty willing to take a fly, so maybe a 4x doesn't even scare them, but it seemed like a poor choice to me. And, not to be too much of a snob, I think it's worth the extra money I spend to fish Rio and Orvis leaders, rather than the cheaper brands. I usually stock up when someone offers a good deal, but I think Rio and Orvis leaders and tippet are just top notch stuff.
I fish this stretch working upstream. Always. And, then walk back to my car on the road when I'm done. The first 200 yards tend to be fairly barren, although I occasionally get a fish in that stretch. I saw a few fish flitting about in that water last night, but no strikes. The water was very clear.
Oh yeah, I started with a size 18 Klinkhammer, only because it had a fluorescent orange wing post. I was working through this first stretch when my FitBit told me I had an incoming phone call from one of my doctors. I thought it was very odd, but I answered the call. The doc was just trying to clarify an appointment. I was originally scheduled to see him today and he's not working today, so it was moved to tomorrow. He wanted to make sure I had the right day and time. He is also a fly fisherman, so he was happy to find that I was feeling good enough to be out on the water. Just as our phone call was ending, a small rainbow swam right in front of me, heading downstream. I was trying to be very stealthy on this small creek with super clear water, but this fish seemed spooked, so I must have done something to scare him.
As soon as the call was over, I moved up to the next hole. On my first cast, I caught my first fish of the day - a rainbow about 5" long - probably a yearling. The next 100 yards or so yielded nothing, and then I got to the biggest hole on the stretch. On my first cast, a fish missed my fly on the surface. On my second cast, the fly sank early, and I started to retrieve it. A nice fish (for this creek), close to 12" hit the fly underwater and I had him hooked for a second. And then, a few casts later, I caught a rainbow about 8" or so. After those three strikes and one caught fish, the hole went dead. I kept working up.
The next major hole is a challenge. Casting is blocked by a large tree, and it's been a challenge for years. From a distance, I noticed that the tree was gone. This excited me a lot, because I've seen some bigger fish in this hole. Regretfully, the loss of the tree affected the hole, and it's now just a riffle. I had one fish slap my fly twice, but it had to have been tiny.
To encourage some bigger fish, I switched to a size 16 parachute Adams, the fly I use most often in this water. In the next hole, I took two fish on that fly and missed two more. Despite a liberal application of Loon's Top Ride after each fish, the Adams decided it wasn't going to float any more.
On a whim, I switched to a Royal Wulff, size 16. In the next hole, I had a small fish batting my fly almost every single cast. I had to have been tiny, and it was very persistent. But, no hookups. This hole is created by a large piece of concrete. I have no idea where it came from or how it got there. I've taken fish on the downstream side of the concrete barrier, but never upstream. There isn't a lot of water above the barrier, and it's easy to get snagged in the water that is there. But, I gave it a shot and a fish slammed the Wulff. It was about a 9" rainbow, big enough that I wondered if it might have been a stocked fish that wandered up from the main branch, even though I was a mile above the main branch and there were a few little waterfalls between me and there.
This fish took the fly deep and there was some blood. I came very close to keeping the fish for dinner, afraid that it wouldn't survive. But, after I got the hook out, and held him in the current for a while, he seemed relatively OK. When I released him, he immediately took off for deeper water. I know that even with the best C&R tactics, some fish aren't going to make it. I try to be very careful, but at 67F and hooked deep, this one might not have made it.
In that kind of situation, I'm always torn. If I keep the fish, it definitely dies. But, if I keep it, I will eat it, so the death won't be completely in vain. If I release the fish and it lives, that's the ideal situation. If I release it and it dies, that's the worst possible outcome - dead and not eaten. These incidents bother me, I must admit. It's a time where I question how "harmless" catch and release fishing really is (or isn't).
After this stretch, there's a barren stretch of water. I'm always kind of glad there aren't fish in that stretch because the landowners on one side of the river consider fishermen in the river to be trespassing on their land. They don't own the land on both sides, I never get out of the river, but they have accosted me a few times. And, their neighbor has warned me to be careful around them because they are always carrying and they are quick to threaten people. I would report them if they ever flashed a gun in my direction, but luckily, it hasn't happened yet. And, they weren't home last night, which was a relief.
I made it to the last series of productive holes just before sunset. My fly wasn't floating so well any more after that bigger fish had inhaled it. And, for the first time in a long time, I fished this stretch with no strikes. A downed tree has made the best hole here very difficult to fish, but there are 4 total holes with fish in them, and I got nothing. By now, it was sunset, so I walked back to my car.
I'd caught 5 fish, and at least 4 were wild. If the fifth was indeed stocked, it had worked very hard to get to where it's living, so I'm guessing it was simply a wild fish with muted coloring.
Thanks to my surgery and chemo earlier this year, I have caught fewer fish this year than any year in recent memory. Last night was more fish than I'd caught previously this entire year. But, the season still has plenty of time in it.
Next weekend, I'm heading to northern VT to fish in two streams I love. One is full of 8" wild rainbows that just slam nymphs, if you present them well. The other is a brookie stream and can be challenging, but it's in a beautiful area, and fun to fish even if you get skunked.
The weekend after that, I'm going to fish the Battenkill for the first time ever. Honestly, there is no excuse for a fly fisherman who has lived in VT for 18 years to have never fished this river. I've always been put off by the driving distance and then having to guess where to fish. A friend has volunteered to go along and show me a few spots, so I'm looking forward to fishing this famed river for the first time.
And, in the middle of next month, I've got a week of vacation to pursue trout in NH and ME. At least two days will be guided, and one of those will be a float trip on the upper CT river. And, there is a possible third guided day, floating on the Kennebec. That person had offered to float me for free on the Kennebec last winter, after I'd posted some recent bad news about my cancer on FB. So, maybe this one will happen and maybe it won't. I'm not going to hold him to the promise or make a big deal if he can't pull it off. I appreciate the support from a fellow fisherman, and I'm not going to complain if he can't make it work. He's got a life of his own and his own bills to pay.
But from 9/15-9/21, I will be on the water every second I can. Most of the trip will be on the upper CT, but part will be in ME as well. I will certainly fish the Magalloway.
Last week, I was able to go upstream from Bethel, about 5 miles, and find 67F water. I know that most fly fishermen cut off their fishing at 70F, but I usually use 68F as my cutoff. I've seen too many fish struggle even at 68F, so I use the lower number.
Last night, about 4 miles upstream from Bethel, the water was over 70F.
But, I found a tributary where I measured a 67F. Game on.
Plus, I love this little tributary. It is full of small wild bows that are willing to come to the surface for small attractor dries, even without hatches. I catch more fish on dry flies here than anywhere else I fish. Only the Dog River comes close, and those are bigger fish. But, I bet the Dog is too warm right now as well.
Did I mention that these are all wild fish? They are so beautiful compared to the stockies in the main river right now.
Anyway, I almost always fish the same stretch of water in this tributary. I have never seen another fisherman on the water when I've been there. I will occasionally find footprints. Last night, I found a package from a Cabela's leader. It was a 9 foot, 4x leader. I usually fish 6x in this water and you don't really need long leaders. The fish are pretty willing to take a fly, so maybe a 4x doesn't even scare them, but it seemed like a poor choice to me. And, not to be too much of a snob, I think it's worth the extra money I spend to fish Rio and Orvis leaders, rather than the cheaper brands. I usually stock up when someone offers a good deal, but I think Rio and Orvis leaders and tippet are just top notch stuff.
I fish this stretch working upstream. Always. And, then walk back to my car on the road when I'm done. The first 200 yards tend to be fairly barren, although I occasionally get a fish in that stretch. I saw a few fish flitting about in that water last night, but no strikes. The water was very clear.
Oh yeah, I started with a size 18 Klinkhammer, only because it had a fluorescent orange wing post. I was working through this first stretch when my FitBit told me I had an incoming phone call from one of my doctors. I thought it was very odd, but I answered the call. The doc was just trying to clarify an appointment. I was originally scheduled to see him today and he's not working today, so it was moved to tomorrow. He wanted to make sure I had the right day and time. He is also a fly fisherman, so he was happy to find that I was feeling good enough to be out on the water. Just as our phone call was ending, a small rainbow swam right in front of me, heading downstream. I was trying to be very stealthy on this small creek with super clear water, but this fish seemed spooked, so I must have done something to scare him.
As soon as the call was over, I moved up to the next hole. On my first cast, I caught my first fish of the day - a rainbow about 5" long - probably a yearling. The next 100 yards or so yielded nothing, and then I got to the biggest hole on the stretch. On my first cast, a fish missed my fly on the surface. On my second cast, the fly sank early, and I started to retrieve it. A nice fish (for this creek), close to 12" hit the fly underwater and I had him hooked for a second. And then, a few casts later, I caught a rainbow about 8" or so. After those three strikes and one caught fish, the hole went dead. I kept working up.
The next major hole is a challenge. Casting is blocked by a large tree, and it's been a challenge for years. From a distance, I noticed that the tree was gone. This excited me a lot, because I've seen some bigger fish in this hole. Regretfully, the loss of the tree affected the hole, and it's now just a riffle. I had one fish slap my fly twice, but it had to have been tiny.
To encourage some bigger fish, I switched to a size 16 parachute Adams, the fly I use most often in this water. In the next hole, I took two fish on that fly and missed two more. Despite a liberal application of Loon's Top Ride after each fish, the Adams decided it wasn't going to float any more.
On a whim, I switched to a Royal Wulff, size 16. In the next hole, I had a small fish batting my fly almost every single cast. I had to have been tiny, and it was very persistent. But, no hookups. This hole is created by a large piece of concrete. I have no idea where it came from or how it got there. I've taken fish on the downstream side of the concrete barrier, but never upstream. There isn't a lot of water above the barrier, and it's easy to get snagged in the water that is there. But, I gave it a shot and a fish slammed the Wulff. It was about a 9" rainbow, big enough that I wondered if it might have been a stocked fish that wandered up from the main branch, even though I was a mile above the main branch and there were a few little waterfalls between me and there.
This fish took the fly deep and there was some blood. I came very close to keeping the fish for dinner, afraid that it wouldn't survive. But, after I got the hook out, and held him in the current for a while, he seemed relatively OK. When I released him, he immediately took off for deeper water. I know that even with the best C&R tactics, some fish aren't going to make it. I try to be very careful, but at 67F and hooked deep, this one might not have made it.
In that kind of situation, I'm always torn. If I keep the fish, it definitely dies. But, if I keep it, I will eat it, so the death won't be completely in vain. If I release the fish and it lives, that's the ideal situation. If I release it and it dies, that's the worst possible outcome - dead and not eaten. These incidents bother me, I must admit. It's a time where I question how "harmless" catch and release fishing really is (or isn't).
After this stretch, there's a barren stretch of water. I'm always kind of glad there aren't fish in that stretch because the landowners on one side of the river consider fishermen in the river to be trespassing on their land. They don't own the land on both sides, I never get out of the river, but they have accosted me a few times. And, their neighbor has warned me to be careful around them because they are always carrying and they are quick to threaten people. I would report them if they ever flashed a gun in my direction, but luckily, it hasn't happened yet. And, they weren't home last night, which was a relief.
I made it to the last series of productive holes just before sunset. My fly wasn't floating so well any more after that bigger fish had inhaled it. And, for the first time in a long time, I fished this stretch with no strikes. A downed tree has made the best hole here very difficult to fish, but there are 4 total holes with fish in them, and I got nothing. By now, it was sunset, so I walked back to my car.
I'd caught 5 fish, and at least 4 were wild. If the fifth was indeed stocked, it had worked very hard to get to where it's living, so I'm guessing it was simply a wild fish with muted coloring.
Thanks to my surgery and chemo earlier this year, I have caught fewer fish this year than any year in recent memory. Last night was more fish than I'd caught previously this entire year. But, the season still has plenty of time in it.
Next weekend, I'm heading to northern VT to fish in two streams I love. One is full of 8" wild rainbows that just slam nymphs, if you present them well. The other is a brookie stream and can be challenging, but it's in a beautiful area, and fun to fish even if you get skunked.
The weekend after that, I'm going to fish the Battenkill for the first time ever. Honestly, there is no excuse for a fly fisherman who has lived in VT for 18 years to have never fished this river. I've always been put off by the driving distance and then having to guess where to fish. A friend has volunteered to go along and show me a few spots, so I'm looking forward to fishing this famed river for the first time.
And, in the middle of next month, I've got a week of vacation to pursue trout in NH and ME. At least two days will be guided, and one of those will be a float trip on the upper CT river. And, there is a possible third guided day, floating on the Kennebec. That person had offered to float me for free on the Kennebec last winter, after I'd posted some recent bad news about my cancer on FB. So, maybe this one will happen and maybe it won't. I'm not going to hold him to the promise or make a big deal if he can't pull it off. I appreciate the support from a fellow fisherman, and I'm not going to complain if he can't make it work. He's got a life of his own and his own bills to pay.
But from 9/15-9/21, I will be on the water every second I can. Most of the trip will be on the upper CT, but part will be in ME as well. I will certainly fish the Magalloway.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)