What a rough start it's been to fishing season, for me at least.
On opening weekend, I bailed on the Otter Creek Classic because of bad weather - ice and snow and mountains and dangerous roads and cold streams, etc. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I simply didn't want to be out there and I certainly didn't want to risk crashing my car for possible but unlikely fish.
After opening weekend, winter continued unabated in VT and we had terrible weather through the first of May. I finally got out to fish a couple weeks ago. The water was still high and cold, and the fish weren't very cooperative. In two days of fishing, using sculpin patterns deep on a sinking tip line, I did manage a couple stocked fish. Then, it started raining every weekend and I started some chemo. That took me out for another weekend.
One of the things that's been killing me is a new toy sitting at home - a 9', 5 wt Scott Radian rod with an Abel sealed drag reel. I bought them used over the winter and got a pretty solid deal. The rod had never been fished and the reel only had a couple of days on it. Retail, the combo sells for about $1600 (I got the reel in a custom solid color - dark blue), but I paid about 60% of that price for the set-up.
But, with the cold, high water, the rod has been just sitting at home in its tube.
This past Saturday, I got out for a couple hours. I'd seen Hendricksons in the air my previous time out and they were pretty common on Saturday. So, used my trusty sculpin pattern and a small GRHE. The nymph, in size 16, dredged up a couple stocked fish and I couldn't complain. I will say that at this time of the year, I'm usually catching 5-10 fish every time out, and right now, it's been 0-2 instead. Not a promising trend.
Sunday was cold and we had lawn-work to do. But, Monday was much nicer and I convinced my wife that we needed to get out to fish. I got my wife some nice new waders for Christmas to replace the ratty, leaky waders she'd been using. And, by upgrading to the Scott rod for myself, I have now allocated a 4 weight Hardy Zenith with a Hatch Finatic Plus to my wife for her use - a major upgrade from what she'd been using before.
We hit the main branch of the White in late afternoon on Monday. I gave my wife a black stone, a small GRHE, and a strike indicator. I watched her miss a couple fish, but the bite was fairly sporadic. I did notice that the first March Browns of the year were in the air, and one fish was working the surface. So, I moved my wife over to a soft hackle PT as her trailing fly. But, it was all for naught.
After helping her out for half an hour, I finally started casting. I was immediately stunned by the Scott Radian. Without a doubt, it was the best casting rod I'd ever fished in my life. I put Rio InTouch Perception line on it, and it cast for distance and accuracy with very little effort. The reel is really sweet too, but the rod is simply a knockout. It's going to be my go-to rod all the time now. I have a feeling my Orvis Helios 2 is hardly ever going to get fished any more, and I love that rod.
About 15 minutes after I started fishing, I'd missed one fish when I got a hard take. It felt like a decent fish, and it turned out to be larger than the cookie cutter stocked fish I was expecting. Regretfully, it was a big fat sucker that has slammed a brown stonefly.
After another 30 minutes, we headed upstream to a "can't miss" spot. The water was low, fairly clear, and 63F. The fish should have been all over our flies. My wife missed one strike and that was it. To be honest, I was really surprised at the slowness of the fishing.
So, I've now been out 4 or 5 times, and I've caught 4 stocked fish. Not a great start to the season.
Because I started some chemo recently and I'm doing it on Fridays, my weekends are going to be challenging to fish. I'm going to be tired and sick a lot of weekends.
The White River Open fly fishing tournament is in two weekends - the day after I get the nastier of my two different chemo cocktails. I'll try to fish, but I doubt that it will go well. But, I'm in a fight for my life here and skipping treatments is not an option. I'll fish when I can and enjoy every day out there. And, on other days, I'll let my body rest and recover.
