Tag Archives: Fly Fishing

Mousin’

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Just when it seemed that summer was on its way out in Southern Ontario, it crept back in again and hit us with a wave of intense weather. Combine this with the low clear waters of late and it’s no time to be out on the river for trout.

However, these hot humid days mean the trout are hiding and expending as little energy as possible during the day and waiting for the cooler, dark of evening to feed. This is especially true of the largest trout in the river, which are nocturnal by nature. While I wouldn’t recommend fishing on evenings where water temperatures and dissolved oxygen levels are below safe levels, the right conditions can bring out some absolute monsters on nights like this.

It’s been a while since I wet a line after dark and I made a last minute decision to give it a go last night. I arrived during the last few minutes of sunlight, got familiar with my surroundings and downsized my leader to prepare for the impending dark. It didn’t take long before I hooked into my first brown. Unfortunately, an acrobatic jump (which I don’t see browns doing very often) resulted in losing the fish. I managed to get a good look at it and while nice (around 18″), I knew there were bigger fish to be had.

A few casts later, to a section of water that was yet undisturbed from the previous fight, proved me right as I hooked a much larger fish. I finally got a chance to break in my new Hardy Ultralite DD reel and hear what the drag really sounds like when it’s screaming.

Big brown trout taken on a mouse pattern after dark.

Big brown trout taken on a mouse pattern after dark.

A Change of Scenery

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I don’t often travel too far from home to fish, but the constant reminder of local river politics and declining conditions has given me the itch to fish elsewhere lately. So, a couple weeks ago, I ventured out for an evening of fishing with a friend.

We drove for a couple hours to a river that has been on my short list of must-visit spots for this season. I hadn’t been on this particular river in over a decade and never to the section we were heading to. The water here was stunning… a great combination of riffles, runs and pools with lots of depth and variety. It was some of the fishiest looking water I’d seen in a long time. Unfortunately though, as the temperature continued to drop, the conditions were not quite ideal. A few Isonychia duns could be seen flying about during the early evening and eventually, as the daylight dwindled, they were replaced by a moderate number of spinners and a few stoneflies.

This was a last minute trip and I’d been slacking on replenishing my fly boxes once again, so I was pretty low on fly selection. When my limited number of Isonychia patterns weren’t doing the trick, I decided to try a small yellow sally stimulator, as I’d seen a few flying around. I spotted what appeared to be an average fish rising in some slow water on the other side of a seam and I presented my fly slightly upstream with enough slack to drift over the fish before drag set in. The gulp that followed was shocking.

An unexpected, colourful 22" brown trout to finish off the evening.

An unexpected, colourful 22″ brown trout to finish off the evening.

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Stillwater Sweetness

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I was planning to spend Thursday evening on the river, but thunderstorms once again threatened to disrupt my fishing. As 4:00 pm approached, I stared out the window at my desk, watching the wind pick up and clouds roll in. The forecast was calling for a 60% chance and it certainly looked like a storm was in the making, but I decided to take my chances anyway as I left work and headed north in rush hour traffic.

I was hoping to do some stillwater fishing for a change and when I arrived there was only a single person on the water. The winds had picked up again and the sky was still looking grim. By the time I geared up, the sole angler had paddled in and was headed home. He mentioned the fishing was slow and considering the current weather conditions, I was headed out with fairly low expectations. I paddled to the far side of the pond, set the anchor and tied on a tandem rig: a leech pattern and nymph. When I looked up, ready to take my first cast, I realized the wind had dislodged the anchor and pushed me to the opposite side of the pond. This happened twice more in the next few minutes, before my luck changed for the better.

With 3.5 hours left to fish, the skies started to open up and the winds calmed. Fish were starting to become active and it wasn’t long before I hooked into my first Rainbow of the night.

My first Rainbow Trout of the evening, took a good old Pheasant Tail nymph.

My first Rainbow Trout of the evening, took a good old Pheasant Tail nymph.

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Spring Rains

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It seems that all the rain we were wishing for at the start of the season has finally caught up with us. The Grand River has jumped from a steady and measly 4cms to over 40cms for the last several days and other rivers in the area, including the Credit, have been running high and dirty. It’s put a bit of a damper on fishing some potentially great hatches, but I suppose that’s to be expected at this time of year. The good news is that it looks like some excellent fishing conditions are just around the corner.

Between the untimely thunderstorms, rain and other life commitments, I haven’t been able to spend much time on the water lately. Two or three hours after work, one or two times a week is about all I’ve managed. Most of my outings have been for Brook Trout and well… there’s not much to see there. Just a bunch of average but equally beautiful fish, as are all southern Ontario Brookies.

An average small stream southern Ontario Brook Trout.

An average small stream southern Ontario Brook Trout.

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Sucker…

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What a strange few days of fly fishing this has been.  Last week I posted about a Pike that I caught while fishing for Brown Trout on the Credit.  Well, this weekend I was fooled again into thinking I’d caught a trophy trout (at least momentarily) when I hooked into another unexpected fish.

After a busy weekend with no fishing, I managed to sneak out for a couple hours of Brook Trout fishing Sunday night.  There wasn’t much daylight left by the time I got on the water and I also was short on flies.  It seemed that everything I had (that the fish were on to) was a size or two too large.  I missed a lot of rises from smaller fish and landed a couple before dark.

On my way back upriver, as the last minutes of light were fading, I stopped to fish a large hole.  I’ve yet to get a quality Brookie out of this water, but it looks SO fishy that I’m convinced it holds many. I don’t fish streamers for Brookies around here often, but I thought I’d try my luck at enticing a larger fish with a Black Ghost as a last-ditch effort for the night. A few casts in, my streamer stopped dead at the bottom of the pool. I yanked a few times but it wasn’t dislodging, so I walked downstream to pull from a different angle. As soon as I freed the streamer, I felt a strong pull and to my surprise a very aggressive fish ran first to the other side of the pool, then straight at me. When I finally got it in, this is what I saw:

I caught this Sucker after dislodging a snag at the bottom of a nice deep pool.

I caught this Sucker after dislodging a snag at the bottom of a nice deep pool.

This is the first Sucker I’ve ever caught and I’ve got to say, it surprised me. I truly thought I had a monster Brook Trout on the end of my line for a while, or perhaps another Pike, but I certainly wasn’t expecting a Sucker. Obviously a disappointment when you’re expecting a colourful Brookie, but at least the night ended with some excitement.

More Credit River Pike

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It’s become a trend of mine to watch a good fishing hole decline in productivity, only to later find it was due to a Pike moving in.  That was the case again last weekend during a trip to the Credit.

I got an early morning start and decided to take my time wading a long stretch of river that I hadn’t fished in quite some time. I started off hiking in to a hole that I knew held good fish, figuring early morning would be my best bet to land a decent fish. As I swung a streamer through the pool on my fourth or fifth cast, I felt an aggressive take followed by head shakes and some serious tugging.  I hadn’t caught a decent fish from this pool in a while and judging by the way the fish was fighting (which admittedly felt very similar to a Brown Trout at the time), I was sure I’d caught the largest trout of my life.

Fortunately, I was fishing with 2X tippet, but unfortunately, when I finally got the fish to the surface, I realized it was another Credit River Pike that would easily make short work of my mono leader. This pike was quite a bit larger than the previous one I’d caught last season and for obvious reasons, I wanted to land it so I could get it out of there. These pike are Island Lake escapees and when they’re this far down, they would have had to descend the Cataract Falls. I barely prevented it from escaping downstream and managed to land it with my tippet frayed and almost broken off.

This unexpected Pike put a serious bend in my four-weight.

This unexpected Pike put a serious bend in my four-weight.

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2015 Trout Opening Week

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Every new trout season seems to come with its own unique characteristics and challenges. Last year it was higher than normal water levels and flows and this year it’s the polar opposite: some of the lowest spring water levels I’ve ever seen on many of our southern Ontario rivers.  The long cold winter, which lacked in snow but not in record low temps, has left us with some pretty difficult early spring fishing conditions.  That’s not to say that good fishing can’t be had, but many holes or runs that would typically hold good numbers of fish have been relegated to a couple feet of crystal clear water – no place for a wary trout. This equates to fishing the deeper holes that still provide enough cover for fish to hold in throughout the day or limiting fishing to lower light hours.

Abnormally clear, low water on the Grand River.

Abnormally clear, low water on the Grand River.

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Rise and Shine

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*crawls out of a hole in the ground*

Well, we’re a month into Spring, Steelhead are in the rivers, Trout season opens in four days and I have a week of vacation coming up.  My fly tying station has been occupying a good part of our kitchen table for the last couple weeks, which is always an indication that final preparations are underway.  Things are looking up, sort of.

There’s been a lot of research and purchases of new gear again for the 2015 season, which I’ll probably go into more detail on in a later post.  It’s somewhat of an addiction I guess – no matter how content I feel with my current gear, it’s never long before I find a reason to either upgrade or expand my collection.  This year’s list includes waders, a sling pack, new fly lines, new reels and possibly a new Steelhead rod.

On the negative side, the MNR has released an updated draft proposal for changes to the Credit River Management Objectives.  This draft further outlines proposals to basically turn all clean/cold sections of the Credit River and its tributaries into purely Atlantic Salmon and Brook Trout water.  This includes removal of existing wild Brown and Rainbow Trout in much of the river.  The MNR will likely make this proposal public at some point in the near future, providing a window of time for public feedback and comments.  I sincerely hope that as many people as possible become well informed on this matter and make their voices heard.  If you’re interested in some of my initial thoughts on this matter, read this.  I’m sure I’ll post more on the subject in the coming weeks.  While I love Brookies (no comment on the Atlantic Salmon), these proposals have me going into the 2015 season with a sense of sadness, knowing that the excellent self-sustaining wild Brown Trout fishery we have in the upper river could be nearing its end.

Enough of that for now though… it’s time to dust off your gear and prepare for another season of trout fishing in Ontario!

Fall Rainbows

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I’ve been enjoying some post-trout season pond fishing for rainbows the past few weekends. The weather has been cooperative, with some warmer than normal weekends for this time of year, although it doesn’t look like that will be continuing for much longer (I think I saw flurries in the forecast)!

Stillwater fly fishing is still relatively new to me, as is fall fly fishing for trout since I’ve usually packed up my trout gear by now. Consequently, I’ve been doing a lot of learning and experimenting lately. Most days have been productive, albeit tough at times while trying to adapt to stillwater techniques and break my normal river fishing habits. It’s certainly been a relaxing time of year to be out on the water, with the fall colours and quiet cool days.

A nice looking rainbow trout caught on a sunny fall day

A nice looking rainbow trout caught on a sunny fall day

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2014 Trout Closing Weekend

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Yesterday wrapped up another season of resident trout fishing in Ontario. It was an extended closing weekend for me since I took Monday and Tuesday off to spend on the river. In fact, I fished a solid 5 days in a row this year – likely a new record for me.

Friday and Saturday were spent exploring small streams close to home, none of which I’d fished before. These are tiny, virtually untouched waters that contain moderate numbers wild trout. The smaller fish in these streams are all too eager to take even a sloppily presented dry fly, but the larger fish require stealth, small tippets and perfect presentations. Of course, larger is relative to the size of the streams here, so a 12″ fish is a trophy on waters like these.

I spent a couple days exploring small, quiet streams like this one.

I spent a couple days exploring small, quiet streams like this one.

Most of these streams have a mix of brookies, browns and rainbows, with an average size of about 6″. Over the course of two days, I spent hours catching trout in these waters, bushwhacking my way through overgrown banks, fallen trees and spider webs. Before heading in on Saturday evening, I decided to check out one last spot. Years ago, a fly fisherman who grew up in the area told me that the “Holy Grail of Brook Trout” (so he called it) existed somewhere in a nearby town, but he had never been able to find it. I hadn’t really given it much thought until now – after all, he fly fished the area for decades and wasn’t able to find it, so I assumed I wouldn’t either.

After scouting a few likely roads in town, I pulled over at the entrance to a trail and double checked my maps. It looked like a stream ran fairly close by, so I grabbed my 3 weight and headed out. As I hiked further, the sound of running water grew from non-existent to that of loud rapids. When I reached the stream, I found a fairly slow stretch of water above the rapids, with a nice little pool that was now completely shaded (it was getting late).

I had a bushy size 12 Stimulator tied on, which seemed like overkill for the fish that usually inhabit waters like this. However, before downsizing, I thought I’d give it a few casts. I carefully approached downstream of the hole, knelt behind some tall grass and presented a cast about 25 feet upstream. As the fly drifted over the middle of the pool, I watched a good sized brookie dart up from below and inhale the Stimulator. As fast as it rose, it dove back down from where it came and an even larger brookie chased after it. The second fish was an honest 3-4″ larger than the one I’d caught, which itself was pushing 12″!

A beautiful small stream Brook Trout

A beautiful small stream Brook Trout

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