My Facebook feed taunts me. I follow a number of local guides. A local teen who is a great fisherman with lots of time to fish. I have local friends who simply have way more free time than I have, and they fish more than I do. I follow the feeds of lodges out west, lodges in the northeast, and fly shops all over the country. Pretty much every day, I see a fish or two on Facebook that would make my entire season. It's hard not to get jealous at times, to be honest. It also messes with my expectations every single time I head out to fish. I'm always thinking about that big brown or rainbow I'm about to catch. And, it rarely ever happens. I need to constantly remind myself to relax and enjoy the experience, and not tie my enjoyment to ideal outcomes that rarely happen.
Right after the White River Open, which was held under very low and warm water conditions, the rain arrived. We've had a number of very rainy days over the past 2 weeks. One week ago, the Winooski was high and off color. This past Saturday, it was even higher and more off color, to the point where I wouldn't even consider wading it.
The northern half of the state seemed to get more rain than the south, so the Winooski and Lamoille have been tougher to fish than the White or other rivers to the south.
Still, I prefer the water flows in Hartford, VT (USGS measuring station) to be no more than 1400 cubic feet per second if I'm going to wade the main branch of the White, and I really prefer 1200 cfs or less. It was just over 1400 cfs this past Saturday.
So, I hadn't fished at all the previous weekend (my wife's birthday, work to do around the house, blown out rivers, etc.), and I was determined to get out this past weekend. It was another busy weekend, but I managed to secure 3 hours of time Saturday evening. So, then I had to decide where to fish. The Dog was an option, but I'd fished there just a few weeks ago. The Third Branch of the White was an option, but I've honestly not caught a fish there yet this year, and some other friends have reported similar (lack of) luck. The Winooski wasn't an option. The upper main branch of the White was an option, but that's a longer drive. I finally settled on a White River tributary that will remain unnamed here.
I'm not trying to be elitist by not naming the tributary. I've told a few of my catch and release friends where I fished. The tributary is easily located on maps and it's easily accessible. But, it is small water with wild fish, and if someone were to fish this tributary and keep the fish, the local population could be adversely affected fairly easily. I really, really dislike Vermont's 12 fish per day bag limit. There is no reason any fisherman needs to keep 12 fish in a day, especially wild fish.
This is a stream where I tend to do well with dry flies, even when fish are not actively working the surface. Not knowing what insects I would encounter, I put on an attractor pattern to start - a size 14 humpy. I know this fly isn't fished as much on the east coast as the west, but it's still a favorite of mine after all the fish I caught on humpies in the Sierra Nevada when I lived in CA.
This creek is really just pocket water and the first few pockets yielded nothing. Finally, about the 4th or 5th little hole I was fishing, a trout came to the surface and rejected the fly. A few casts later, a fish hit the fly but evaded the hook. This happened a couple more times. I had been watching for insects in the air, and so far, I'd see a few small caddis flies and my first yellow sulfurs of the year. I decided to switch to a size 16 elk hair caddis. In the next 10 casts, that fly was hit at least 5 times, although I suspect it was just 1 or 2 fish. I cast further upstream in this hole, and a fish hit the fly hard as soon as it hit the water. It was a wild rainbow, about 8".
It was interesting, as I worked upstream, that some pockets that usually yield nothing at all, contained willing fish. And, the two pockets where I tend to always catch fish had no rises at all. I took 2 fish out of a pocket that had never yielded a rise before. It seemed like the fish had simply changed locations. As I missed more and more fish, I kept trying smaller flies. I eventually moved to a size 18 yellow sulfur comparadun and then a size 20 parachute Adams. I hooked fish on every fly except the size 14 humpy, and every fly brought fish to the surface.
As I moved into the final stretch of water, I was surprised when a German Shepard Dog came running at me. I had never seen a dog in this area, and the closest house to me was never occupied. It turned out to be a house owned by tourists, and I got a chance to finally meet the owner. I asked his permission to fish through his property, explaining that I'd wanted to ask before, but there was never anyone home. He was happy to oblige, although he did warn me about some downstream neighbors who seem to have a habit of pulling out a gun on people they think are on their property. Good information for the future.
The landowner was surprised when I told him that he lived on a great stretch of the stream. He asked me how I was doing, and I told him that I'd hooked 4 fish in the previous 5 minutes, but got none of them to the net. I hooked another while he was standing there, and also failed to land that fish.
As I called it a night, there was a quick blast of March Browns, but I resisted the temptation to tie on a new fly in the fading light. I still needed to hike back to my car in near darkness.
In the end, on a stream where no fish were actively working the surface, I pulled at least 30 fish up to look at or hit my fly. At least 20 of them (some the same fish, I assume) had hit the fly. I'd hooked over 10 fish, and I think I got 4 of them to the net. While there are some bigger fish in this stream, the biggest fish I caught was about 9", and the smallest was maybe 5". All were wild rainbows within walking distance of a paved road.
It's always a successful day when you catch a big fish. But, there are other experiences that make fly fishing fun and this was one of them. I hope this stream remains undiscovered. I only know a few people who ever fish there and I've never seen another fisherman on this water.
We are expecting rain off and on this week. If the main streams are still high next weekend, I have two other White River tributaries in mind for a little bit of exploration.
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