I haven't done what we could call a trip report in a long time and so...........
Yesterday morning Boss and I sat off for a 3 mile walk to reach where we would begin fishing. I tried to use a strait line navigation to the waypoint which was only 1.2 miles but the bush conditions made it clear that I would have to follow the meander of the creek rather than the strait line method. I only lasted .2 mile before I set a course back to the creek.
It's a beautiful stream and after 2 miles the reward was that the set of foot prints on the sandy point bars were gone. We went the extra mile this time.
The long calm flats come alive at night with Grayling that will rise to a dry but on a sunny warm day like this the fish are laying low. It would be a gamble trying to get them onto a wet fly and I knew it.
At the top and bottom of each glide there are beautiful troths and currents which are the targets for trout fishing.
Being a creature of habit, I selected a fresh Jock O' Dee as the fly for use. If you aren't familiar with what a 'Dee' fly is I'm posting 2 photos of the fly, the second shows the wing placement for which they are named. The style was developed on the Dee River in Scotland I believe it is.
The wings ride down atop the fly as it swims and they are resilient, the flies hold up well until torn by fish.
It didn't take long to find that if I worked things just right I'd be catching fish.
For a rod I used a 6'6" Orvis Full Flex fiberglass rod with a CFO reel. I like short rods on smaller creeks rather than the long ones. Also, a 17" trout will keep you busy with a light rod. I use 10 pound maxima Ultra Green for tippet so you can still put good pressure on the fish.
Only one little grayling all day but I saw some dandy ones sitting on the bottom at the tails of the pools waiting for the sun to drop a little.
The trout kept it interesting and some I netted and others I unhooked in the water without netting.
Here's an underwater release, gotta love that new camera........
I found enough of them to allow for letting the little guys still with parr markings go with no pictures. I got a bunch of 7 - 10" ones so the future looks good.
The net I used has a 15" long hoop so that's the only measurement I could do, if they filled the net length they musta been 15" or more.
Not all of them filled the net but they were beauties anyway.
After raising a nice fish from a pool where there were some kings hanging out I changed flies to see if I could get it to come again.
That's one of my 'new fangled bunny and deer hair sculpins'. I tied it fast and brought the fish on the first swing.It turned out to be a Jack Fish, (small silver salmon) of about 2.5 pounds and I left it go.
About 5:30 PM or so I took a rest here while Boss kept a large beaver at bay on the other side of the creek.
This was the largest fish caught and I regret not having a net shot because it was a beauty. It flopped from the net as I was removing the hook and so I left it out in the creek. After I got the hook out it hung out so I could take some pictures. It was large enough that it was hard to get the whole fish in the shot, maybe 18" ??
The biggest fish? Well ............. I was fishing in a bad spot and I knew it. I tossed the Sculpin in the current and gave it a couple twitches. A trout came up from the deep green depths and hammered it good. While it was swimming around and I was reeling it in, a really big one started swimming along side it. by really big I mean maybe 2.5 times the size of what I had on the line.
I released the caught fish and sat down. After about 5 minutes I tossed the current again. It took 3 tries and that fish came up like a shot and grabbed the fly. They it went nuts................
Take a look at this picture to see where this happened and maybe you'll guess how things went.
I did what I could, and my little rod did what it could but the fish jumped twice than dove for the bottom. At the bottom he got under a broken driftwood branch and was stuck. I had plenty of time to look at him. This spot is at least 5.5 to 6.5 feet deep and he was stuck in a place where I could look right through the water at the fish. That was when I decided to go after the trout.
As I contemplated removing waders, socks, shirt and etc. I decided to try the slack line trick since pulling had done no good at all. I gave the slack and the fish was off, just like that. Only problem was that the fly was off to. I have no clue what happened but the result was no fly, no fish...........
So once again, the big one got away. We didn't get back to the truck until almost 9:00 at night and were both tired. Yes the big one escaped with not so much as a bad photo to prove he ever lived but the day had still made its impression on me.
Spending another day being able to handle the fish a little and quality time with my friend Boss.
That made the day and that's the story.
Ard
Yesterday morning Boss and I sat off for a 3 mile walk to reach where we would begin fishing. I tried to use a strait line navigation to the waypoint which was only 1.2 miles but the bush conditions made it clear that I would have to follow the meander of the creek rather than the strait line method. I only lasted .2 mile before I set a course back to the creek.
It's a beautiful stream and after 2 miles the reward was that the set of foot prints on the sandy point bars were gone. We went the extra mile this time.
The long calm flats come alive at night with Grayling that will rise to a dry but on a sunny warm day like this the fish are laying low. It would be a gamble trying to get them onto a wet fly and I knew it.
At the top and bottom of each glide there are beautiful troths and currents which are the targets for trout fishing.
Being a creature of habit, I selected a fresh Jock O' Dee as the fly for use. If you aren't familiar with what a 'Dee' fly is I'm posting 2 photos of the fly, the second shows the wing placement for which they are named. The style was developed on the Dee River in Scotland I believe it is.
The wings ride down atop the fly as it swims and they are resilient, the flies hold up well until torn by fish.
It didn't take long to find that if I worked things just right I'd be catching fish.
For a rod I used a 6'6" Orvis Full Flex fiberglass rod with a CFO reel. I like short rods on smaller creeks rather than the long ones. Also, a 17" trout will keep you busy with a light rod. I use 10 pound maxima Ultra Green for tippet so you can still put good pressure on the fish.
Only one little grayling all day but I saw some dandy ones sitting on the bottom at the tails of the pools waiting for the sun to drop a little.
The trout kept it interesting and some I netted and others I unhooked in the water without netting.
Here's an underwater release, gotta love that new camera........
I found enough of them to allow for letting the little guys still with parr markings go with no pictures. I got a bunch of 7 - 10" ones so the future looks good.
The net I used has a 15" long hoop so that's the only measurement I could do, if they filled the net length they musta been 15" or more.
Not all of them filled the net but they were beauties anyway.
After raising a nice fish from a pool where there were some kings hanging out I changed flies to see if I could get it to come again.
That's one of my 'new fangled bunny and deer hair sculpins'. I tied it fast and brought the fish on the first swing.It turned out to be a Jack Fish, (small silver salmon) of about 2.5 pounds and I left it go.
About 5:30 PM or so I took a rest here while Boss kept a large beaver at bay on the other side of the creek.
This was the largest fish caught and I regret not having a net shot because it was a beauty. It flopped from the net as I was removing the hook and so I left it out in the creek. After I got the hook out it hung out so I could take some pictures. It was large enough that it was hard to get the whole fish in the shot, maybe 18" ??
The biggest fish? Well ............. I was fishing in a bad spot and I knew it. I tossed the Sculpin in the current and gave it a couple twitches. A trout came up from the deep green depths and hammered it good. While it was swimming around and I was reeling it in, a really big one started swimming along side it. by really big I mean maybe 2.5 times the size of what I had on the line.
I released the caught fish and sat down. After about 5 minutes I tossed the current again. It took 3 tries and that fish came up like a shot and grabbed the fly. They it went nuts................
Take a look at this picture to see where this happened and maybe you'll guess how things went.
I did what I could, and my little rod did what it could but the fish jumped twice than dove for the bottom. At the bottom he got under a broken driftwood branch and was stuck. I had plenty of time to look at him. This spot is at least 5.5 to 6.5 feet deep and he was stuck in a place where I could look right through the water at the fish. That was when I decided to go after the trout.
As I contemplated removing waders, socks, shirt and etc. I decided to try the slack line trick since pulling had done no good at all. I gave the slack and the fish was off, just like that. Only problem was that the fly was off to. I have no clue what happened but the result was no fly, no fish...........
So once again, the big one got away. We didn't get back to the truck until almost 9:00 at night and were both tired. Yes the big one escaped with not so much as a bad photo to prove he ever lived but the day had still made its impression on me.
Spending another day being able to handle the fish a little and quality time with my friend Boss.
That made the day and that's the story.
Ard
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