Connecticut Fly Angler: On Christmas Eve Day

Ever since I caught my first trout over 20 inches on Christmas Eve Day in 2013, a spectacular wild brown I name Grandfather, I have fished my home river on either the 23rd or 24th every year since. Rain or shine, cold or warm, I was there. None of those trips were notably bad in terms of fishing, in fact this is a reliably productive time of year for numbers and size. But the conditions on the 24th this year didn't look great. Despite the recent warm spell, I knew a few days in the 40's wouldn't be enough to really warm up the water. My home water sits in some serious topography with a lot of hemlock, it doesn't get much sun. It takes a while to warm up. Iced in banks, cold water, bluebird skies were to be expected. I could deal with the ice, it wasn't really over the water, but the combination of high barometric pressure and cold water made it likely the fish would be in a funky mood. That was the reality of the situation, I caught five fish total over two miles of river covered thoroughly, and only one wild fish. For whatever reason the holdovers were more obliging, which was especially odd as up until this trip there had seemed to be none this fall.

I started out at the bridge pool, where I caught Grandfather six years prior, the first time I've fished it on this annual trip since then. I don't fish it as often as other parts of the stream for a variety of reasons, foremost of which being that it only occasionally holds wild trout. In fact, aside from Grandfather, I've only ever caught two other wild trout there, a brown and a brookie. Other wild fish, often completely unexpected ones like a pair of crappies I caught there one day, do show up there. But on this trip I got what a more typical bridge pool resident, a holdover rainbow.

All but one fish took a Walt's Worm. The outlier took a BHHESH. Typical. I might fish midges here next time, maybe that would have done better in that high pressure and could water. But I doubt it. I've fished Zebra Midges and WD40's plenty there and can count on one hand the number of fish they caught. It's mostly a caddis and stonefly game in the winter. But I've improved as a nympher in recent years so it is possible I'd be able to present small midges more effectively than I did in the past.

The one wild brown trout I caught wasn't at all big, but I was pleased about the way I caught her and she was an incredibly beautiful fish. It is all too easy on water you've fished hundreds of times before to think after a couple drifts through a lie you've been thorough enough, and I do fall into that more than I should. I made as many drifts through the lie as I normally would but felt I was missing something. I changed my position ever so slightly and altered my cast and I caught a fish because of that. Just as easily I could have moved on, as I have done many times before.

That moment was the high of the day, and I rounded the next bend thinking things may be on the up-swing.

That wasn't the case.

Instead, I walked right into a situation I didn't want to and wouldn't wish on anyone. I won't, I can't go into real detail. Suffice to say, I was forced to make the hardest decision I've ever made and I will never quite be the same for it. I think I made the right choice, but it will be a long time before I stop thinking about it. When you spend many or most of your days in the outdoors, you never know exactly what the world is going to throw at you.
May you all have the strength to deal with anything you stumble into, and make the toughest decisions with the soundest judgment and kindest intention.