There’s no better place to start than the Credit. It is still, after all, where I spend most of my time on the water. In my experience, the river has fished quite well this year (aside from some warm spells that is). The last of the large broodstock Atlantics that were stocked in the upper river a couple years ago seems to have finally cleared out and I’ve been seeing a catching a good number of both brook trout and brown trout on the main branch. Lots of smaller browns and brookies as well, which is nice to see.

Of course, there are still the small Atlantics that continue to be stocked and there are also a curiously high number of rainbows being caught this year. I would say the rainbows are the biggest difference in the river. If the MNR and CVC are concerned about brook trout populations, this is the fish they need to worry about, not the brown trout. I’ve heard they are likely still escaping from ponds in Erin, although I’m pretty sure they’re also reproducing in larger numbers as well. In addition to the usual smaller catches, I have caught a few larger rainbows this year as well, which is quite unusual.

So, unsurprisingly, many of my outings this year have had me catching 3 to 4 different species, sometimes in the same pool.

Most of the major hatches were present and decent throughout the season, including Hendricksons, Drakes, Foxes, Stoneflies, Yellow Sallies and Isonychia (which are still kicking around). I even happened upon a Hex hatch, which is not very common on the upper Credit – though, the only large fish I got out of it was a rainbow. Of these hatches, the Grey Foxes were the most reliable, at least earlier in the summer. They were present in good numbers for about a month and it seemed that every time I hit the river looking for a different hatch, it was the Foxes that ended up stealing the show. Often I was slow to realize this and as a result likely missed some opportunities to land some better fish that refused previous offerings.

I’ve spent far less time this year fishing past dark than previous years. This is due, in part, to a few factors:

1. Not being around during the prime night fishing times
2. An unfortunate accident with a really hot cup of Tim Hortons coffee
3. An encounter with a Bear, which had me spooked for some time

A few trips kept me off the river during the month of July and August, which is prime night fishing season. One of those trips was a family vacation to Florida, which (before some last minute research) had absolutely nothing to do with fishing. I’ve been meaning to dedicate a post to that trip, which was my first venture into saltwater. I’ll try to get to that post after this one.

Regarding the coffee accident… if it wasn’t apparent from the title of my blog, I really like my caffeine and I drink a lot of Tim Hortons. After a couple dozen years drinking hot coffee without issues, I finally managed to spill a HOT black cup of freshly brewed Tims all over my leg while preparing to drive home from my parents’ place in Windsor (yes, it only got my leg). That resulted in a 6 hour venture to the hospital and nearly a month of healing, during which I couldn’t really fish. I’ve suffered a lot of injuries in the past, but those second degree burns were the worst I’ve ever experienced.

Finally, about the Bear… yes, I ran into a Black Bear on the Upper Credit! I was fishing about an hour before dark by myself at a usual spot, when I noticed some bushes/trees moving on the opposite bank. As I looked closer, I saw a large dark animal walking toward the bank. I couldn’t make out the entire animal, because it was covered by a lot of brush. However, it was definitely large and wide – larger than any other animal that exists in southern Ontario – and it was black. As it walked slowly toward the bank, I began to back up. At this point, it seemed to notice me and stopped for a second, then briefly charged in my direction closer to the bank. I again stopped and this time started making a bunch a noise and shouting at it. It remained mostly still, though did inch a little closer a couple times. It managed to hide itself mostly behind some fallen trees near the bank and when I was fairly certain it was safe(r), I again started slowly backing up and left the area.

I had heard of Black Bear sightings in Caledon, though this was my first encounter – and happened to be with a bear that thought it a good choice to threaten charging. Thankfully the river separated us, though that honestly was little relief and likely didn’t add much to my safety. I believe it was a large cub and in fact, not a week later, I saw a news article indicating that there had been three sightings of the same bear cub in Caledon.

Needless to say, fishing alone in the dark freaked me out for a while after that, though I’m slowly re-gaining my courage and venturing out alone later again. Anyway, here are a couple nighttime fish from late June and one from the other night.

I suppose the last update I have is regarding the Grand River. This is the river that introduced me to fly fishing and I have given it very little attention in the past few years. I remember in my teens and early 20’s, spending hours casting to countless rising trout on the Grand and catching stockers at will. That sight of rising fish after rising fish is something I have have rarely seen since those days. The Credit simply is not a dry fly fishery, at least not most of the time (hatches are less reliable and, honestly, the fish are simply smarter on average). I’ve even struggled to find rising fish on the Grand in recent years. Whether that’s due to bad timing, increased fishing pressure or others reason I am not sure.

However, Ryan and I did venture out to the Grand on two back-to-back nights at the beginning of July, for the first time this year. We opted to fish a very heavily trafficked section of the Grand, one that I always tend to bypass in favor of less crowed waters. What I have never understood, is how on earth a small section of river can be so heavily and frequently over-fished and yet continue to produce not only a large number of fish, but big fish. The Grand is weird that way. I guess it’s a combination of a lot of dumb fish (the stockers) and huge concentrations of food in certain sections of the river keeping the bigger fish around. Either way, in the few hours we spent fishing this stretch of water, we cast to more rising fish and had more success than I think we had combined the last three years on the Grand. No huge fish, just a lot of chunky fish and a couple larger ones for me.

I wish more sections of the Grand fished as reliably. I want to believe they do, but in my experience, most don’t. Even when they look like they should and even when they have better water and far less fishing pressure, they just don’t. Some of the more frequent locals and guides will say “the whole upper river fishes just as good”, but almost every time they take a client out or fish by themselves, there’s back to that same spot

Anyway, absolutely nothing against the Grand or those who guide and fish it more than me. They certainly know it better than I. As much as I love the Credit and it’s wild, elusive browns, the Grand is very much a special river in its own right and is definitely a central figure to the sport of fly fishing in Ontario.

To wrap things up, I was out on the Credit the other night for a couple hours and caught a few nice small to mid sized browns. One of the fish was sipping Isonychia at the very back of a pool, tight to a fallen tree. I managed to drift an imitation back there and it exploded on my fly. I wasn’t overly big (maybe 13 or 14 inches), but it was a memorable take and an impressive looking brown to boot. It had a very obvious wild brown signature blue/black patch on its cheek.

Normally you remember catching the same big brown twice. However, while this fish wasn’t big, it resonated with me in a weird way, like I had caught it before. Then, as I was going though my photos for this post yesterday, I realized that I actually had caught it previously this season. In the same pool, feeding on Grey Foxes back at the end of May (it’s in one of the slideshows above).

Here’s the same fish again for a comparison. You can clearly see that the spots are identical and it’s the same fish. Gotta love catch and release!

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To this effect, I decided to try something new this year. The trout ponds at Glen Haffy’s Fly Fishing Club offer some excellent stocked Rainbow Trout fishing for about 8 months out of the year. As an added benefit, they also enjoy a healthy population of native Brook Trout that enter one of the ponds from a small spring creek. The ponds are nestled within hundreds of acres of conservation land and offer excellent fishing in a truly serene atmosphere.

Early morning view from one of Glen Haffy’s trout ponds

Normally, I’m not a fan of pay-to-enjoy outdoor activities, especially when it comes to fishing. To this end, I have to admit that I had certain preconceptions about what my experience would be like at Glen Haffy. I pictured very easy to catch stocked Rainbows, a commercialized feel to the club and a certain attitude from members. To my pleasant surprise though, none of these preconceptions were true. What I found instead was a challenging but rewarding little piece of paradise, with quiet, friendly members who share a common passion.

A couple Deer spotted last weekend while driving back to the ponds

Compared to fishing rivers, a completely different skill set is required and often as much (or more) experimentation is necessary to fool fish. Of course, having a very healthy and well maintained population of fish does improve odds at times.

The price point seems about right, where it’s high enough to keep away the crowds of non-serious anglers, but low enough that it’s affordable to those with a lower budget. Kids fish for free with a member, which of course is nice for someone like me who has three of them. In fact, I think it’s an ideal environment to introduce children to fly fishing, with plenty of fish and wide boats that provide stable casting platforms with unlimited back casting room.

Although there’s still lots of season left at the ponds this year, I’ll admit that I’m unsure how much value I’ll end up getting when it’s all said and done. I anticipate more regular trips after resident trout season closes, though I imagine if I were to calculate the cost per day for my number of visits, it will end up being a lot higher than I care to admit. If I lived a bit closer (it’s about a 40 minute drive right now), I’d likely get more use out of it. Still, it’s difficult to put a dollar amount on the opportunity to catch fish like the one below in such a setting any day of the week.

One of the larger Rainbow Trout I caught at Glen Haffy this year

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Admittedly, as great a river as the Grand is, I haven’t fished it too much in the past few years. Most of my time has been spent on other less popular rivers. However, the several trips we’ve made so far this year have reminded of a few things I had forgotten:

1. Morning is an amazing time to be on the water

Stepping out onto the water at the crack of dawn is a wonderful experience. The crisp morning air, quiet, calm and undisturbed water instantly makes you forget how difficult it was climbing out of bed. With the entire day ahead of you, your sense of urgency is non-existent. Wildlife is abundant and fish are still a bit more careless than they might be after a day of dealing with anglers. On a morning trip last week, we were greeted by a pair of playful deer as we stepped into the river. They remained for several minutes before finally realizing we were there, after which they calmly walked back to the river bank out of sight.

A couple deer playing in the river

Birds were also plentiful and active. An osprey sat at the top of a tall tree, watching us fish for a good 30 minutes before deciding to show us how to catch a real fish. I heard a huge splash behind me, turned around and saw a splash that I imagined could only be caused by a large boulder falling into the river. A second later, the osprey emerged with a good sized fish in its claws.

Osprey on the lookout for unsuspecting fish in the river below

A lowly seagull also decided to out-fish us and as can be seen below, happily feasting on its fresh catch.

Seagull proudly displaying its morning catch

Unfortunately for this poor gull though, he was not the biggest bird on the water that morning and shortly after his meal was stolen by a great blue heron. Needless to say, he did not seem happy.

Size does matter, as this great blue heron proved by stealing its breakfast

2. There are a lot of big fish in this river

Wildlife was not the only excitement we witnessed on the river. Caddis hatches and undisturbed pools reminded me of just how many browns are in this river. One nice thing about the Grand is that a tiny fish here is generally 8-10″ due to the decent size of stockers. Average fish are a bit bigger and fish in the high 20’s are taken often. While we had a few nice fish roll on us, most of the fish we caught were in the 10-14″ range. I’m not complaining, I’ll take those fish any day. I’ve always found the larger fish on the Grand quite picky, no doubt due in large part to the sheer number of flies they have seen in their long lives. In clear water conditions, especially when fishing a dry fly, it seems even a 6x tippet or the slightest of water disturbance can alert them.

Many average sized fish like this were caught, with a few larger

The fly of the month for us has been the Bubble Caddis Emerger. I just started tying and fishing this fly and I have to say, so far it hands down beats fishing a more typical elk hair caddis. The fish here seem to prefer it and it’s nice that it can be fished both as a dry or an emerger.

3. At least some of the stories about clowns on this river are true

Ah yes and then there’s the clowns. I’ll start by saying that in the countless times I’ve fished the Grand in the past, I’ve been lucky enough to avoid them. I’m sure it’s not as bad as people say, certainly nothing like the real circus found on the lower sections of some rivers during a good steelhead run. Nevertheless, a couple hours into fishing one morning, we ran across one such person.

We were fishing a productive stretch of water and started working the water directly in front of us. We were carefully covering all of the water, working out towards the other (deeper) side of the pool which seemed to be holding some better fish. We noticed a person enter the river downstream, dressed entirely in black. He stood around for a minute or two after which he crossed to the other side of the river and began stomping upstream with rod in hand. We weren’t quite sure what to make of him – it was hard to see from a distance, but he certainly wasn’t wearing your typical fishing gear. It was a cold morning and he was dressed in long, plain black cloth. He literally walked right into the pool we were so anxiously working towards, no more than 40 feet away from us and began casting across the river directly into the water we were fishing.

It’s a good thing I was in too good of a mood (and am generally too nice a person) to say anything, because I have honestly never seen anyone be so rude or bold on a river in my life. He made casts that were no more than a few feet from our drifts. Eventually he moved on upstream, while we were left to ponder what just happened and deal with the fact that he just spooked every fish in the river.

Thankfully, you shouldn’t expect to see this stuff too often and it was already later in the morning. One more plus for early mornings on the river though: increased chance of avoiding situations like this one.

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June 2013: Back to Big Crow Lake
A 3 day return trip to Big Crow Lake Algonquin Park

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