Who said that we are in the Summer doldrums???
I've had the opportunity this season to introduce some anglers to the art of dry fly fishing and to witness their first trout using this method. It's especially fun when the trout is HUGE! That happened this week on the EB where a +16 inch, thick shouldered rainbow came to the net after inhaling a deer hair caddis. This fish still had plenty of fight left in him when we released it.
The dry fly activity carried over to the Swift on Wednesday evening where I had Cady Lane to myself. The usual brookies were around and playing on the surface but my attention was drawn to a large brown and two good bows. The bows were sipping something tiny off the surface and I thought a size 20 winged ant might do it. The bows ignored it but the brown rose up and grabbed it. This fish was about 18 inches and tried in vain to bury it's head in the mats of weed that this place is famous for. He was released with a lot of fight still in him. The bows had left the scene during the battle but were back sipping away in about 20 minutes. I had one come up for the ant but he backed away.
That's the small one!!!
Thursday evening saw us on the famous Kempfield section of the Millers. Like clockwork the trout began to rise around 7:30 but strangely they were all bows, at least the ones we caught. We rose 7 to the deer hair caddis and landed two. I noticed that my client was using a low side to side hook set which may work when you're slumming in Nymphville but it's not the way to win with a dry fly. "Raise the rod UP to 11 o'clock" while pulling slack in with your non casting hand. That immediately resulted in the biggest bow of the evening that was well in excess of 16 inches. All of the fish were aggressively feeding and shot away at release.
The key to this post is the word EVENING!!!!! Hit the river at 7pm and the trout will be rising by 8pm and even sooner on an overcast day. By this time next month we will lose more hours of daylight which means the fun starts sooner!!!
Ken
P.S. I thought I would never say it but I think we could use some rain!
9 comments:
ey ken my name is dalton noel and I'm a frequent reader of your blog as it helps me with local rivers to fish and what flies to use etc. I was just wondering how to create a name to be able comment on the blog would love to be able too thanks!
Dalton,
You just it! Your name is Dalton Jones. Just comment!
Ken
Ken,
I hope the predicted rain for Sunday night doesn't fail us. We could use it. In the meantime I'll be on the Swift.
GW
Hi Ken
Went out to the EB yesterday and left my house at 3:30 so I could get there early as you have suggested. I drove down the road and parked at one of the turnoffs before the gate on the right where you can fit a couple of cars. What a beautiful place for fishing ! I had not replaced my wading staff but thought I would be ok since the river was down - I was wrong. After fishing one of those great runs I was going back to shore and maybe was complacent about my footing- I literally did a faceplate in the river including banging my head, I managedto break my fall a bit with my left hand but I went down hard and apparently made some noise as I lost my footing. There was another fly fisherman down below me and as I slowly got to my feet i could see him waving at me to see if I was ok. It was nice gesture and much appreciated on my part I later walked down and thanked him and he said if I didn't wave bhai he was coming up to help out. Fisherman are good guys at theEB. I will have s wading staff next time!.
Hi Ken. Yesterday I left my rod tip in or near the parking area for thE Hatchery Pool. The tip is bronze colored and is for a Sage One TLX 0 weight. Wonder if any of your readers might have found it. Thanks for your help. Enjoy your blog.
Chuck Young
1-617-312-6215
Hockey,
Glad that you are ok.
Chuck,
Let's see if we can find that tip!
Ken
Thanks ken look forward to conversations on here!
Dalton,
Looking forward to your comments!!
Ken
lenny tamule
6:31 PM (1 hour ago)
to me
Hey Ken! How was the salt? I fished it the other day with Joe and the second time solidified that no fish will be king over trout and salmon for me, contrary to what almost everyone told me would happen lol. Anyway one of my buddies brought up going to Canada the last week of August for salmon but i always thought non-Canadian residents must have a guide present at all times. Is that true?
Lenny,
The Salt was fine, a good change of pace and I like it but it will never replace Trout and Salmon.
As far as I know you will need a guide to fish New Brunswick and Quebec and don't get caught without one. 40 years ago the New Brunswick guides were not worth a damn. He sat in my truck while I fished in the rain and then tripped all over himself when he saw that I had a fish on. Back then everyone and their brother was a salmon guide!! I think things are better now.
Ken
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