I spent yesterday on the White with a local friend, playing tour guide and showing him some new spots. I must have done the job well, because I put him on more fish than I touched. We met at 1:00 on a breezy, partly sunny day.
We met in Bethel at Peavine Park, but we had no plans to fish that heavily pressured water yesterday. I love the stream right there by the park. It gets plenty of pressure, but it's still one of my favorite spots for both browns and rainbows. Once the stockies get fished out, it's a really fun stretch. But, my friend already knew that spot, so we headed upriver. We drove a few miles on Rt. 107 to a well known hole just upstream from Cleveland Brook. I'm not "spot burning" here, given the fact that the turnout to access this spot seems to have cars in it every weekend.
We'd had a strange weekend a week before. Saturday had seen consistent trico hatches and rising fish. Sunday, the fish had been down, they were in shallower water than normal for this time of year, especially considering the low water conditions, and they seemed to be keying in on soft hackles on the swing.
I gave James the choice of two stretches at the first hole, and he picked well. He hit the top of a riffle leading into a medium-deep stretch of water. I worked the riffles running into the main pool, just 100 yards downstream or so.
It didn't take long for me to hear James yell that he had a fish on. Regretfully, I looked upstream just in time to see the fish jump and throw the hook. I had been keying on a decent fish that was working the surface a bit, but I couldn't get the fish to take anything, and eventually, the fish must have gotten tired of my flies or fly line and it just stopped rising.
After I'd fished through three different riffles, I headed up to see how James was doing. He caught a small wild rainbow just as I got to him. He'd been getting consistent action on soft hackles and made some room for me to slide into the hole with him. I had a few strikes at the top of the hole and then finally caught one decent wild fish downstream from him. I think he got 2-3 fish out of that hole - all wild. We were in the special regulations section, and I rarely see stocked fish this far up, and every fish we landed was smaller than the cookie cutter stockies.
The later season this year has been fairly productive, with fish every time out, despite some of the lowest water conditions I've ever seen on the White. We've had some late season hatches - mostly BWOs and tricos, and I've taken more fish on dries late this season than any other year I can remember on the White. Yesterday, with the partly cloudy conditions and consistent breeze, bugs were rare and only a few fish came to the surface, and even those fish were rising very intermittently.
After working the one productive stretch pretty hard, we headed downstream. We picked a place that I know doesn't get much pressure, and where there are three distinct large holes. I opted for the middle hole of the three, after losing a decent brown there a week ago. James started at the bottom of the upper hole, but I could soon see that he'd moved to the top of that stretch, where riffles lead into the first part of the hole.
I got shut out completely in my stretch, but James had a number of strikes and even hooked one good fish. He lost that one, but caught two more in the two hours we fished there. I didn't get a strike.
So, James got 4 or 5 fish in some water he'd never seen before. I got one fish and missed a couple others.
We are getting to that time of the year where leaves in the water can slide down your fly line and leader, and make you think you have a strike, and you have to be vigilant to keep your fly line clean.
I'm out of town next weekend. The weekend after that, if the weather holds, I'm going to try a late season trip to the Otter Creek. There is one little secret that results in great fishing on one part of the Otter at this time of year - a particular fly that the fish can't seem to resist - rainbows or browns. So, I'm hoping to make that trip yet this year.
After Halloween, I'll be focused on ski season, most likely, and less likely to get out fishing. I am not a year round fisherman like some I know.
Due to my surgery in June, and recovery into July, I only fished about half as many days as a normal year this year, and I missed some of the most productive weeks of fishing. And, I caught about 50% of the trout that I normally catch. I lost my two biggest fish of the year - browns on the White River.
My biggest fish came from the Andro and my second biggest fish came from the Dog. I added two new rivers this year - the Battenkill and the Andro. I didn't make it to the New Haven this year. I didn't fish the Winooski or the Mad either. The most fish I got in a day was on a float trip on the Andro, and that day saw probably over a third of the fish I caught all year
I caught more fish on dries that wet flies this year - a rarity for me.
And, as usual, I enjoyed every single day out there.
I'm not quite calling it a season, but we are close to the end. Of course, that means it's soon time to ski, so I'm looking forward to that. I have a new job at Sugarbush this winter, and I'm looking forward to the changes there.
Monday, October 16, 2017
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Weird night of fishing
Temps have dropped way off in the past week. Sunday never got about 65F or so, and the river was close to 60F in the evening.
I didn't have much time, so I went to one of my tried and true places to fish. This is an interesting location, because it's very easy to reach, it gets a lot of pressure, yet I always seem to catch fish there. It's simply a stretch of water that holds a lot of fish, including some big browns, smallmouth bass, and the primary residents, the rainbows.
When I got there on Sunday, I was stunned by the low water levels. These were the lowest water levels I've ever seen on the White River. There were rocks sticking up that I had never seen uncovered before.
But, I knew there were a couple deep pools that would be holding fish, so I geared up, walked to the water, double-checked the water temperature, even though I knew it would be OK, and then moved to the top hole to start fishing.
This particular hole has been kind of slow for me this year. I've had plenty of strikes, and I hooked a big brown here early in the year, but I've caught just a few fish there this season. At this time of year, I typically start with the same fly rig every time out on the White - a Prince Nymph of some sort (size 14 or smaller) and a tiny juju baetis off the back of the Prince.
Because of the low water levels and the water clarity, I opted to not use a strike indicator. I didn't want the indicator to scare any fish.
I started with my normal approach to this hole - stay far away from the deep water and fish the water closest to me first. I always work this hole very methodically because it's common to catch fish in some spots where a careless angler would wade right in.
And, on my third cast, I had a strike. In the next five minutes, two more. But, no hookups. I spent the next 45 minutes or so fishing this hole, watching fish rise all over the place, but I got no more strikes. So, I moved downstream to the next hole - a hole that has been very productive this year. And, in 30 minutes with my nymphs, I got nothing. Not a single strike. Plus, no fish were even rising here.
Sunset was approaching, so I decided, just like the week before, to try a dry fly in the fading light. Once again, I went with a size 18 Klinkhammer with a fluorescent orange post, hoping I could see the small fly in the dwindling light. And, I moved back to the upper hole, because that's where fish had been rising earlier.
At the end of a pretty good drift, the fly starting to sink into the film, and as I started to retrieve it for another cast, a fish grabbed it. Because I'd been pulling the fly in, I hooked the fish easily. It was a small wild rainbow.
After drying my fly with Top Ride, I went back to working the hole, but it was getting very tough to see the fly. Fish weren't rising any more either, so I was about ready to give up. Then, on a cast where I knew I had a bad drift and the fly had to have sunk, I felt a subtle bump. I set the hook, and this time, I knew it was a decent fish. It was stripping line off the reel at times, and trying to use the current to its advantage. But, it wasn't that big, and in a few minutes, it was in the net. This was another wild bow, about 15" this time.
I made a half dozen more casts, but it was pretty dark by now. And, the two fish had meant no skunk, plus I had a decent fish, so I headed home.
So, I caught two fish on dries in the main branch of the White, something I do very rarely. But, the fly was not on the surface either time the fish hit. Is it still considered a dry fly if it brings in fish while under the surface?
I didn't have much time, so I went to one of my tried and true places to fish. This is an interesting location, because it's very easy to reach, it gets a lot of pressure, yet I always seem to catch fish there. It's simply a stretch of water that holds a lot of fish, including some big browns, smallmouth bass, and the primary residents, the rainbows.
When I got there on Sunday, I was stunned by the low water levels. These were the lowest water levels I've ever seen on the White River. There were rocks sticking up that I had never seen uncovered before.
But, I knew there were a couple deep pools that would be holding fish, so I geared up, walked to the water, double-checked the water temperature, even though I knew it would be OK, and then moved to the top hole to start fishing.
This particular hole has been kind of slow for me this year. I've had plenty of strikes, and I hooked a big brown here early in the year, but I've caught just a few fish there this season. At this time of year, I typically start with the same fly rig every time out on the White - a Prince Nymph of some sort (size 14 or smaller) and a tiny juju baetis off the back of the Prince.
Because of the low water levels and the water clarity, I opted to not use a strike indicator. I didn't want the indicator to scare any fish.
I started with my normal approach to this hole - stay far away from the deep water and fish the water closest to me first. I always work this hole very methodically because it's common to catch fish in some spots where a careless angler would wade right in.
And, on my third cast, I had a strike. In the next five minutes, two more. But, no hookups. I spent the next 45 minutes or so fishing this hole, watching fish rise all over the place, but I got no more strikes. So, I moved downstream to the next hole - a hole that has been very productive this year. And, in 30 minutes with my nymphs, I got nothing. Not a single strike. Plus, no fish were even rising here.
Sunset was approaching, so I decided, just like the week before, to try a dry fly in the fading light. Once again, I went with a size 18 Klinkhammer with a fluorescent orange post, hoping I could see the small fly in the dwindling light. And, I moved back to the upper hole, because that's where fish had been rising earlier.
At the end of a pretty good drift, the fly starting to sink into the film, and as I started to retrieve it for another cast, a fish grabbed it. Because I'd been pulling the fly in, I hooked the fish easily. It was a small wild rainbow.
After drying my fly with Top Ride, I went back to working the hole, but it was getting very tough to see the fly. Fish weren't rising any more either, so I was about ready to give up. Then, on a cast where I knew I had a bad drift and the fly had to have sunk, I felt a subtle bump. I set the hook, and this time, I knew it was a decent fish. It was stripping line off the reel at times, and trying to use the current to its advantage. But, it wasn't that big, and in a few minutes, it was in the net. This was another wild bow, about 15" this time.
I made a half dozen more casts, but it was pretty dark by now. And, the two fish had meant no skunk, plus I had a decent fish, so I headed home.
So, I caught two fish on dries in the main branch of the White, something I do very rarely. But, the fly was not on the surface either time the fish hit. Is it still considered a dry fly if it brings in fish while under the surface?
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