Trip Report: After Work Delight!

If you'd like to purchase any of the flies I used today or perhaps a fly rod check out Whitewater Valley Flies and/or send me an email at cgrie750@hotmail.com

After tying a few dozen flies last night to complete an order last night I decided to hit a spot on the way home from work for a little troutin'. I'd heard the biting gnats were bad on this particular stream but had no issues beside them flying in my mouth and up my nose. I talked to a friendly fella who was just wrapping up as I arrived. He had a decent day fishing a caddis pattern and reported fish rising consistently to a variety of bugs. I started with the quill bodied mayfly emerger in a size 16. The stream was running full and clear. The sun was shiny and temps measured in the high 80's. The water felt cold.

 This first fish to come to hand was this nice brookie! This stream hasn't held a decent population of brook trout for a few years so I was pleasantly surprised. After a quick pic he was returned to the drink.

This well fed fishy sipped the quill mayfly emerger gently from the surface but violently took to the air upon hook set. After a great battle in tight quarters he too was returned to the drink:) After around a half dozen on the surface I rigged up a rusty colored size 18 tungsten beaded zebra midge which both I and the fish have been diggin' lately.

 Fish ate the zebra midge with some hesitation. Most of the fish landed were barely hooked in the beak, like they were just tasting it. I landed a ton of fish in the 10-13 range and a few slightly larger. No bigguns came to hand today but I briefly battled one of around 16 or 17. The tiny fly popped free of his boney month as I steered him toward shore. Oh well. Stay tuned, without work or family obligations I plan to fish to my hearts content this weekend...and tie flies.

Trip Report: Cloudy Trout Skitterin'

 To purchase any of the flies I used today check out Whitewater Valley Flies!

 Today I cut out of work a little early to chase some trout. Skies were cloudy and the area got a steady drizzle overnight which left my chosen stream with a perfect chalky greenish stain. I expected to fish the San Juan worm a bunch but fish did not seen enthusiastic about the worm. I switched over to a size 16 Quill Bodied Mayfly Emerger and began hauling 'em in. I landed a few on the dead drift but they really responded well to the fly cast upstream and skittered down.

Usually I'll get high numbers of smaller fish on the skitterin' fly but today some decent fish were looking up. In water under 2 or 3 feet deep I could see fish come up from the bottom to eat.

As the afternoon went on I began noticing some larger caddis (approx size 16) caddis laying eggs on the surface. There weren't many flying around and each time I spotted one a fish would inevitably take a swipe at it. I snapped off on a few decent fish before switching to 4x tippet. It was a blast pulling some of these fish out of skinny, heavily structured water with my 7' 9" three weight.

This speckled beauty was the big fish of the day. I'd guess he was around 14 inches. Shortly before I called it a day a trout of around 16 or 17 inches took the skittered fly from the head of a pool. It dodged beneath an undercut, around some logs, and through some rocks before I guided him toward my hand. While I fiddled with my camera he spit the hook and slowly headed toward the depths. I fished from 2pm to 630pm and landed approximately 40 trout. Most were around a foot long although plenty of 8-10 inchers found there way into my hand!

Trip Report: Flyless Fly Fishing

Check out my most recent post on Whitewater Valley Flies about the virtues of fishing midges and to purchase the flies I used today!!!

 

After a little messin' around this morning I found some time to get out fishing. Unfortunately all of my gear was in the wifes car. Well, not all the gear. I have a ton of flies tied up so I dove into the inventory and grabbed two quill bodied mayfly emergers, on orange scud, and two rusty zebra midges. 

I arrived on stream around 3pm. With my limited supply of flies, my 7ft 9in three weight, and some indicators I made out of fly tying foam and thread. First up was the size 18 tungsten beaded rusty zebra midge.

 Yup, that worked. This stream runs gin clear most of the time and today was no exception. I could see fish on the bottom opening their mouths and landed fish on most good drifts. Most were right around 12 inches. After snapping off one of the midges on a decent trout I tied on the last rusty midge and twitched it along a deep rocky undercut along a current seam.

This guy was probably around 14 inches. He put up a great fight on the three weight and went airborne a few times! After a few quick pics he was returned to the drink. Shortly after I snapped off the final zebra midge and switched to the orange scud. No dice. By this time the sun was out and fish began to rise steadily. It looked like they were eating midges which swarmed around the faster water. I tied on a size 16 quill bodied mayfly and resumed hauling 'em in.

 This guy, along with 8 or so, fell for the dry fly. They ate it dead drifted as well as twitched. In one promising plunge pool I had a really nice trout come up an nip the fly from my tippet. I set the hook but felt no pressure. I later last the other quill bodied mayfly in a similar manner. Out of flies and a little hungry I headed home around 6pm.

Trip Report: No Morels, Many Trout

After some chores around the house this morning I headed to the nearest south facing slope in search of Morels. After walking around a tick infested woods for around 1.5 hours to no avail I headed toward the nearest stream. This stream is a medium to larger body of water and despite having little precipitation over the last few days the water was vary stained. After prodding the water for 20 minutes or so with a San Juan Worm I opted for a smaller body of water. I arrived around 11am and tied on a size 18 rusty zebra midge.

I immediately began tying into trout. Most fish only nibbled on the fly. I managed a bunch of good fish out of this little stream. A few larger fish took the fly as well although I was only able to roll one really nice one of about 17 inches.

The average sized fish was on the larger size with most fish measuring between 10-13 inches. I rolled many in the 12-14 inch range as well.

This was the large fish of the day. It measured a little over 14 inches. The water on this small stream was crystal clear and fishing would have been more difficult if not for overcast skies. Today I fished with a 9ft four weight, a 9ft leader, and 5x tippet. Few fish surfaced in the hour that I fished but they readily ate the zebra midge subsurface. If anybody's looking for flies hit me up at cgrie750@hotmail.com or check out Whitewater Valley Flies.

Trip Report: Rainy Midges

After tying flies non-stop for the last week I took a break this afternoon and headed to a stream on my way home from work. I planned to fish a skittering caddis downstream, then fish with a quill bodied mayfly back to the car. Fish were eating on top when I arrived on stream around 330pm.

 I quickly began tying into little brown trout. I had a few 12+ inchers swipe at the fly but no connections. This was the biggest fish I landed while headed downstream.

I tried a number of flies on my way upstream to no avail. They were frightened by the San Juan worm and had no interest in a scud. I noticed clouds of tiny little pale yellow midges and tied on a size 18 rusty zebra midge. That was the ticket!

With cloudy skies I was able to watch these fish swim directly to the midge! At a few points it rained lightly which didn't seem to impact the fishing. During clear, sunny conditions this stream is really difficulty to fish due to shallow water and easily spooked fish.

 Here you can see the midge poking into the top snout of this speckled specimen. They nibbled on the fly gently enough that I missed or only briefly hooked probably twice as many as I landed.

For perspective the reel seat and grip on this fly rod is 10 3/4 inches long. Most of the fish caught today were around 10-12 inches with the biggest around 15 inches. By 630pm around two dozen came to hand. It was nice to get out for a quick afternoon outing since the vise continues to call!

New Flies

Added some new flies over at Whitewater Valley Flies.

Trip Report: Tiger Trout!

Despite receiving well over an inch of rain throughout the area streams were dropping and clearing throughout the day. I got off work at 2ish and was on stream by 330pm. I checked out a different section of the stream I'd fished on Tuesday but found conditions less than optimal (dirty water). I headed to a stream that always clears quickly after rain. With sunny skies and windy conditions I was unsure how it would go. I fished with a 9ft 4 weight built on an older generation graphite blank which has a slower action. It was tough to toss in the wind but it worked well enough.

Right off the bat I landed this decent little brownie on a size 14 skittering caddis. I was casting the fly down and across, letting it swing into the current, then twitching it back upstream. Some fish jumped out of the water for the fly while others chased and nipped at it.

 Plenty of browns came to hand. This stream has a decent population of both browns and brook trout. As I worked my way downstream I noticed that browns seemed more focused in faster water while brookies appeared near tailouts.

 I'd caught one tiger before much further downstream where there aren't many brookies at all. I fish this stretch wtih some frequency and have always thought conditions were good for tiger trout.

This handsome trout took the skittered caddis hard. A tiger trout is the sterile offspring of a brown trout and a brook trout. They are not stocked in the driftless and indicate that both brook trout and browns are naturally reproducing in this creek! By 6pm I was back in the car and headed home with fish stink on my hands:)

Trip Report: Haddis Catch

Today I finished up two fly orders and celebrated by going fishin'. I didn't prepare as well as I should have and found myself on stream with flies that were too big, the wrong size, or the wrong colors. I arrived at the first stretch of water at 11am and found no surface action. I managed to entice a few hits on top before heading upstream. I arrived to caddis madness! It appeared like size 18 gray caddis and some size 16 caddis were hatching. Fish were hitting them as they skittered about the surface laying eggs. I tied on a size 14 gray skittering caddis and landed quite a few including this gnarly looking guy.

As the hatch progressed they paid less attention to size 14. I then tied on a size 16 deer hair mayfly emerger tied with an olive quill which I bit the tail off of. Right size, wrong color. I still managed a ton of fish on that fly.

 At one point I headed upstream to see if I could find a bigger fish in a spot where I've scared up a few nice trout in the past.

 This spot didn't give up any bigguns. I headed back down stream and landed a few more out of the areas I'd already fished before heading to another spot.

This beautifully speckled specimen put up a great fight on the Whitewater Valley Flies 9ft 4 weight. It's an older rod that I build on an older generation graphite blank. The result is a much slower action that most newer rods which makes for a great dry fly rod in my opinion. As the hatch wound down fish became more elusive. I tied on a Griffiths Gnat and twitched it over rising fish in faster water. It worked like a charm! I landed at least 40 trout by the time I left the river at 330pm. The medium sized stream I fished today was in great shape with just a slight stain. We got rain this evening which may leave streams a little murky tomorrow but as long as it doesn't rain more than 1/4-1/3 inch fishing should be fine.

Trip Report: East Coast, Beast Coast

Over the last few days I spent some time with new and old friends fishing in Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts. Conditions were challenging. Temps hovered in the low 50's and rain fell steadily most of the time. We fished some great looking water but with flows on all area streams flowing around double the historical average CFS (cubic feet per second) the fish were hunkered down and tight lipped.

These streams are different from our driftless spring creeks. The freestone streams of the northeast are much less fertile than our creeks. Fish populations are much lower and many area streams depend on stocking to maintain catchable populations of Rainbow, Brown, and Brook trout.

One of the first rivers we hit was set in a beautiful valley. Sean busted out the spey rod and we took turns launching 100 foot casts with ease. But no fish yet.

After getting a hot lead on a stream that runs beneath a covered bridge (that's a thing in Vermont) we arrived on stream around noon. I launched a big, nasty articulated streamer into the current, let it drop, and twitched it back on the swing. After a few casts I turned around (with the fly swinging) and bid the others good luck as they spread to other areas of the stream. I felt a sharp jolt through through the rod and boom, fish on. Choo choo!

There she goes. Note the water clarity. Despite cold, high water the rivers still ran clear. My buddy Sean took these shots and they turned out awesome!

 There's the bridge! My fish came from the other side of the bridge on the left side. Pictured is Gary tying on a fly. Shortly after taking this picture we headed to another spot. At this juncture mine was the only fish landed in 1.5 days of fishing. That was about to change!

Gary nailed this tank out of some ridiculously fast moving water, right off a rock shelf. It put up a great fight and as the second fish of the day we all looked on with nervous excitement as Gary masterfully guided the beast into the net perfectly wielded by Sean. Jamie looked on in the background approvingly in this awesome picture by Sean. Jamie was new to fly fishing and stuck it out like a champ. Despite leaving the northeast skunked it wasn't for lack of skill or effort. He was a quick study and would've cleaned up on any driftless stream.

We fished hard for three days and only landed 4 fish between the four of us. I only landed one but she was a doozey! We spent the final day doing a little fishing and a lot of driving, checking out new stretches of stream where I'm sure Sean will find redemption in the coming weeks.

I was certainly humbled by the great northeast but through very challenging conditions I believe our crew persevered on the rivers. Outside of fishing the trip left nothing to be desired. A great time with great people.