The Absurdity Continues

The stream in which I caught Dave (A Monster Small Stream Brown) two weeks ago continues to be some of the best small stream fishing I've ever seen, full stop. I wish I could get up there more often. I fished it Saturday afternoon and evening, And the bite was just as obscenely good as it had been every time I've fished it this spring.

Except this time, for each trout I caught less than 7 inches...
















...I caught two over 9 inches.








Once again, browns were the predominant catch. But I did encounter pockets of brookies, a few of which were very hefty though not particularly long. The water was lower than it had been but still not low, and by now I've explored the entire system as thoroughly as possible. I've got a good idea of where the cold spring seeps are as well as warm effluent and pond outflows. There are some exceptionally deep pools with plenty of overhead cover, more insect life than other streams in the watershed, and a good population of white suckers, common shiners, and blacknose dace. Long bubbly riffles keep the water well oxygenated. Despite abundant garbage, skinny riparian buffers, and urban setting, this stream is a gem... for now. All it take is one chemical spill, or some less than conservation minded anglers finding it to just wreck the place. These fish are, unfortunately, sitting ducks. I highly recommend that if you know of streams like this, tread lightly. Tell nobody, be stealthy, and do what you can to be the eyes in the field for enforcement officials that are spread too thin in this state. Note potential chemical spills, fish kills, poaching and the like, and report it.

I only really fished two flies, not on the same rig. I was fishing a 9ft 5wt with 7ft leader (incl. tippet) tapered from 0.020 down to 4x. I fished a size 10 Ausable Ugly in any water I was covering for the first time that day, whether going upstream or down, because;
 1: It can be dead drifted on an upstream presentation or dangled, swung, and stripped on a downstream presentation
2: It's combination of weight and size mean it makes a loud 'plop' when presented with a tuck cast or aggressive roll cast, which can draw fish out of brush or undercuts to seek it out.
3: It's just a kick ass trout fly!

I fished a size size 12 Sexy Walt's Worm going upstream through water I had already worked, because;
1: It's slim, minimalist profile would likely attract fish that weren't interested in the bulky, large Ausable Ugly.
2: It effectively imitates both the freshwater shrimp and cased caddis that are relatively abundant in this system.
3: It's just a kick ass trout fly!

This interesting looking pale brown wrapped my around every branch possible but wasn't' big enough to break itself off. 

The Ausable Ugly took the lions share, partly because I fished it more than the Walt's, and partly because it was just the better fly for this kind of water. And, frankly, I have more confidence in the Ugly on any stream anywhere than any other subsurface fly. Drop me on any trout river in the world and tell me I can only fish one fly pattern, that'll be the one. Done deal. That being said, I did have the Walt's on when I landed a couple of the bigger trout (landed, and that's an important detail) of the outing.

The two biggest trout I hooked both gave me the slip. Both took the Ausable Ugly while fish it dead drift upstream. The first was a roughly 18 inch very orange-red fish that I'm not certain wasn't a massive brook trout but was more likely a wildly colored brown, which charged a good five feet into an undercut and broke off, despite my dropping the rod down deep and putting the breaks on. The second was a brown of at least 20", but clearly not Dave, which I had on for a while but threw the hook on it's first and only wild three foot high leap. I didn't have any chance at preventing either loss, so even though it was momentarily exasperating it was laugh like Dr. Ian Malcolm then curse the fish out kind of exasperation. So, for the time being, the 20"+ brown is named "You F*****".  But, with 28 fish on the Ugly and 14 on the Walt's, and a bunch of foot long, fat, gorgeous wild browns, I wasn't going to be doing any complaining. It was continuous, wild, exceptional bite, just as it had been each other day I'd been. I should emphasize, I'm a self professed "not a fish counter", but I've started to do so here and on some other occasions because I realized that it might actually provide some valuable data as this and other streams changes. As I've mentioned over and over, most of this water has appeared utterly troutless for years. I'm still at a loss. But I'm going to ride this wave for as long as I can and hope it doesn't break too violently.

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