A Bit of an Adventure

I have been pretty bored with my usual fishing spots, so today I decided to hop on the bike to see what I could find.

On the way out I saw a promising looking pond, and vowed to fish it on the way home.

Eventually I came to a juicy looking stream. Mayflies were out: 3 different sized BWO's and Isos. I went through the normal small stream fly changing routine, but was only catching chubs and salmon parr. I did see some trout in one pool, but that was after fishing it and beginning to walk to the head. They were stationary and didn't appear to be actively feeding. I picked up and moved on.

The next stream was a little one I was almost sure had some natives. Having fished it, I can now say it has no salmonids at all. It did produce one fair Chub and a nice old Wood Turtle.

The Next location was sure to have trout, and it wasn't long before I hooked one in the deep pool where the little stream entered the other. It was also not long before I lost that trout. I continued to fish upstream, catching more fat dumb Chubs.

After this frustration I headed off downstream. I found a spot where a landslide dumped a bunch of trees in the stream a produced a very deep, still, pool There were some trout rising, and I sat to snack on dried cranberries while trying to decipher the insect story. Some rises were subsurface, others were head and tail. I suspected midges. A pupa brought no attention, but I caught an unusual trout stream fish on a cluster midge: a healthy and colorful largemouth. 

I went bellow the logjam, and there was a very deep hole between two fallen trees. I couldn't see the bottom. A big Hair's Ear was chosen, as I was sure there were millions of nymphs in those trees that any trout would be keyed on. The fly was allowed to sink down to the bottom, then was retrieved with the most tiny twitches I could manage. I started out by pulling little Bluegills out, but finally something better took. It was a very pretty Rainbow. Not huge, but just what I needed. Better yet he had a buddy that ate the next cast! 100,000 casts, no trout. Then everything just came together for me. I was happy, happy, happy!

Satisfying my trout hunger was all it took, I was back on the bike. As I had promised myself I got to that pond. As I was tying on a red wet fly, I saw a spin fisherman walking my way. When he reached me we greeted each other. I asked him if there was anything sizable in the pond. He said that there had been some big bass in the past, and that he had seen some good swirls. We talked a bit more before parting ways. I went on and began to catch Bluegill. They weren't big, but as fun as can be.

In conclusion: around 20 miles covered; three rivers and one pond fished; 6.8 bazillion Chubs, 16 Bluegill, one Largemouth, two salmon parr, one wood turtle, and two Rainbow Trout caught. Pretty darn good day if I do say so myself. Top that all off with a bunny.