I swear I fished in a theme park yesterday. Maybe my reaction is jaded by the fact that 7 hours on the water didn't result in a single strike. Two companions each caught one nice fish and lost another. But, I don't think that's the reason.
The river was the Black River, between Cavendish and Weathersfield.
I understand the appeal of this river to so many. The water is beautiful - lots of nice pocket water plus some deep holes. I was able to fish in shaded water until a few hours after sunrise, and even mid-afternoon, I could find deep water protected by shade. Access is great. So great, that it seems the 4 mile stretch is bordered by pull-outs and parking areas almost the whole way.
There is even a hole called The Freight Train Hole along this stretch. How do I know it's called the Freight Train Hole? Signs on both sides of the rivers, attached to trees, told me that. I don't think I'd ever seen anything like that before.
I wouldn't say the river was crowded. The parking lot where I initially parked usually had 3-6 vehicles parked at once. Every car but mine was from out of state. Some people were fishing spinners but most were fly fishing.
This stretch of river was stocked this season with approximately 7000 trout, over 4 distinct stocking days. Many of those fish were larger 2-year old fish.
Early in the season, those fish are easier to catch, and I've heard stories of people catching 50-100 fish per day. Fishermen may keep up to 2 fish per day. Apparently, by mid-June, a lot of those fish have been removed from the river, and the remaining fish have learned a lot. I know a lot of fishermen who love this river, and I think it's one of the most fished rivers in the state. I saw more fishermen yesterday (a Thursday) than I'd ever see on the White on the weekend, or the Dog, and maybe more than I'd see on the Winooski.
One of the guide services who works this river ends their guiding by 6/15. I think that's a sign that there are simply fewer fish and the fish have been fished hard.
This honestly isn't sour grapes. Yes, I failed to catch any fish, but enough people caught a fish or two that I should have been able to do that. I think it took me a while to get the right fly configuration, and by the time I did that, the sun was high and things were warming up. One small change earlier (putting a small PT nymph as my dropper rather than the middle position in a 3-fly rig) might have led to a very different outcome.
I grew up fishing trout streams that were filled with stocked trout, the trout were caught by Memorial Day, and the streams were deserted by mid-June. Sometimes, we would stand elbow to elbow to try to catch stocked trout. We killed what we caught.
It's always fun to catch a trout, especially a big trout. I will return to this river, probably very early in the morning, mid-week, in mid-May. I'm sure I'll catch fish and have fun. At the same time, I'm glad this isn't my home river.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this river and how it's managed. It simply isn't what I'm looking for in a trout stream on a regular basis. To each his own.
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