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| The first of the day. |
I guess I actually do work sometimes? I saw that my last report was on January 15,
so that means today was the first time I have fished in 10 days. That is usually pretty normal, but this
winter has been mild, and I have been fishing a lot, especially having nearly a
month off at the holidays. After a
steady soaker, a true Nor’easter, earlier in the week, I figured the creeks
would be in good shape today, so I was itching to get out. The weather was beautiful, a high of 50 with
sun and a light breeze, so I had to give it a shot somewhere. I decided to stay close to home, maybe
Valley, which fishes well after the rain.
Valley is always an option, though, even on the coldest day, so I opted for
a nearby freestoner, Stony Creek, instead.
When I fished there earlier in the winter, I did pretty well, though the
fish were very small. I decided to throw
my 8 foot 3 weight rod with midges and make a sport of the little fish that
were 15 minutes from home. As you can
see from my new toy, a measure net that the boy and I purchased at the new Gander
Mountain store up the road, a couple fish were over 10 inches and one maybe 11,
but the average is still a fat 9. I
guess feeding them in the runs only added girth, as time alone can add the
length...
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| You can't feed them to grow long, I guess, but fat, yes indeed.... |
I started at a deep, flat hole where I did not catch any
fish the last time I was there. Usually,
the hole gets loaded up with fish, and other fish probably move up and down too
over time since they don’t much like to hang in the riffles in the winter and
need protection from raptors in clear winter water. I could see a few bulges and vees once in a
while, like fish were feeding or just tired of being bunched together and
lashing out at each other. There were
also many midges dancing around. I assumed
the disturbances could be sunfish or chubs, especially since I took nothing out
of this hole before, but it was definitely worth a shot.
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| Just a gorgeous day. |
On the first cast, a fish made a move toward the midge
not a second after it hit the water. With
clearer conditions, these fish will start taking dry flies, no doubt. I landed a little 9 inch rainbow, average for
this particular winter brood. I thought
it was going to be silly fishing, but after that one crazy fish, the rest took
the midge like they usually do, a barely perceptible dip in the tiny indicator. I pulled 8 or 9 fish out of this same hole
before moving on. I had a couple places
to scout that I hadn’t worked up to in previous winter trips. The rest of the roughly four hours I was on
the water was steady, with one or two in each likely spot and a handful of
dropped fish on barbless midges. I
stopped fishing at an even 20 fish to the net, just so I wasn’t too greedy!
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| 7 + 4 = 11. A monster for today! |
I ran into two spin fishermen who were also taking
advantage of the beautiful day, and they each released a couple fish. The trout were definitely tuned into the
midges, however. I suspended a streamer
for a while, just to change it up (and maybe find that elusive 12 incher) but
nothing chased or moved. The water was
muddy but clearing, so visibility was not an issue for the fish, who had no
problem finding a size 20 black zebra midge.
I also got an even number on an olive brassie that was probably smaller
but had a larger hook, which meant fewer lost fish, and it sank more quickly in
the spots where the water was moving a bit faster.
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| 5 + 5 = 10, and that was 20 on the day. |
After talking to my wife around 1:30 PM, I was ready to
head back down to the Suburu, but she is always good luck when she calls. I decided to try two more holes upstream and
end on 15 fish for the day. Well, by
2:45 PM I had 19 fish, so I now resigned to quit at 20. I did turn back towards my parking spot,
however, hoping to get that last one at a brief stop on the way back, perhaps
one of the U-shaped holes that the club built to create some habitat. By 3 PM, I had number 20, and he was actually
a 10 inch monster, or at least he felt that way after all the 8 and 9 inchers
(and a 3 weight rod helps too). I
probably would have caught some prettier, wilier fish at Valley today, but I
was glad that I was able to take advantage of a nearby creek and have some fun
on a perfect spring, I mean, winter day.
Cold is supposed to return by the weekend, but it doesn’t seem to last,
so perhaps it won’t be 10 days until my next post?
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