The May long weekend saw me taking a last minute trip to the Lake Superior Park interior for four days of paddling and trout fishing. Work had been unusually busy, which both delayed and shortened my spring backcountry trip plans. What’s usually a month of planning for up to ten days in the backcountry was condensed into about two days of rushed planning, packing, and a 9.5-hour drive north to a hastily chosen destination. I forgot some food and gear at home and was very low on sleep, needing to adjust my plans once again at the eleventh hour.

I’ll save the details of this trip for another post, but aside from the horrendous black flies and difficult portages, it was a good time, with some excellent fishing, scenery and solitude.

Green Drake Hatch

Not long after returning from Lake Superior, I was surprised to find out that the Green Drake hatch on the Credit had started extra early this year. It hadn’t even been on my mind, but in retrospect, it makes complete sense with the short (i.e. non-existent) winter we had. This is also why the black flies were so bad on my trip, when I had tripped at the same time last year (further south even) without any bugs.

I spent two nights of the green drake hatch on the river, but only for about an hour before and after dark each night. There were good numbers of drakes, along with a few intermixed grey foxes and a very thick sulphur hatch on the second evening. On both nights, there was a flurry of rising fish, but with my limited time and fly selection (I wasn’t prepared for the hatch to come so early), I failed to bring any large fish to the net. Or, that’s my excuse anyway. I think they were mostly feeding on emerging duns, which I had no suitable presentations for.

Between the two nights, we managed just a few smaller fish. Still, it’s always great to catch the drake hatch, with both the insects and rising fish a wonder to behold. It really gets me fired up to get out there and catch the hatches more often.

Float Trip From Hell

Speaking of drakes, that brings me to last weekend’s events. It was our first float trip of the year on a large southern Ontario river. Running late as usual, I quickly dug my pontoon boat out of winter storage, assembled it and threw it and all my fly fishing gear in the truck before heading out for the roughly 2 hour drive to the river.

After dropping one vehicle off at the take-out point and getting the boats loaded up, we set off from our access point and were instantly reminded of the tranquility that floating down a scenic river in a pontoon boat brings.

We’ve done countless trips in our pontoons and have yet to experience any real mishaps with them. Though, I suppose there was that time I snapped my 6 weight sage rod, after getting it caught up in some weeds while padding a lake a few years ago. But I digress – these drifts are almost always without drama. Still, as innocent and peaceful as they can be, it’s wise to remember that there are still many things that can go wrong – as we were soon to be reminded.

We happily floated down river, stopping to fish some of the nicer pools along the way. Insect activity was fairly low, but it was still early. We saw small numbers of Grey Foxes and Stoneflies, which eventually gave way to a lot of caddis and an absolute smothering of Brown Drakes at the end of the night (more on that later).

Steve (the other Steve I was with, not me) missed a decent fish or two in the first pool. There weren’t any visible rising fish, other than maybe one or two at our last stop for the evening, where we’d fish until just past dark. We split the river here, fishing from opposite banks on a fairly wide section of river with many nice runs and pools in it.

Since the light was fading and there was some fairly turbulent water here, I decided to fish a large stonefly, which we’d seen a few of earlier. I figured, it’d be easier for both me and the fish to see. That turned out to be a good decision, as I hooked into a nice brown within the first couple minutes here. It pulled hard on my 6 weight, leading me to believe it was bigger than it really was. It still turned out to be a nice chunky brown, but not quite the tank I first imagined.

Soon after releasing this fish, I spotted a large beaver swimming upriver towards me. It seemed fairly territorial and had no real fear of me. At one point it disappeared only to re-surface about 6 feet in front of me, without an ounce of hesitation or surprise.

We continued fishing until dark, but insect activity was decreasing rapidly as the temperature plummeted and winds picked up. This is generally the sort of weather that spells the end of good fishing, as it’s usually the warmer evenings that have some hatches going at or slightly after dark. We were sure this wasn’t the case tonight with the change in weather, so headed back to our boats to finish the kilometer or more of river we had left to float, in the dark.

We know this section of river well and we’ve floated it countless times in the dark. The river was higher and more pushy than normal though. We donned our boat lights and started out with an uneventful float. As we approached some slower frog water, we surprisingly started to see a flurry of insect activity. There were lots of caddis, but more surprisingly, there were hordes of giant mayflies, which turned out to be Brown Drakes.

Just like the presence of Green Drakes on the Credit, I wasn’t expecting Brown Drakes so early (or on such a cool evening after dark), but again, all bets are off with this year’s weather patterns. It seems like almost every hatch on the rivers are overlapping at the same time this year. Anyway, there were LOTS of Brown Drakes on the water. If you aren’t familiar with them, they’re also a very large mayfly, close to the size of the Green Drakes (ranging between size 8-10).

Steve and I were like two kids in a candy store as we glanced at the water while slowly continuing to drift downriver, paying little attention to the rest of our surroundings. This is when things started to spiral out of control.

Strike One

We were trying to capture some of the drakes on the water – and as I reached forward while sitting on my pontoon seat, I managed to slip off and plunge into a fairly deep section of river. I went in up to my chest, filling my waist-high Patagonia waders and soaking my wallet and other items in my pockets. I scrambled to get back in the boat as I couldn’t really touch ground.

Thankfully, other than getting soaked and cold, no real harm came of this. I shook it off, gathered my composure and still managed to snag a drake from the surface to observe and photograph.

Strike Two

We sort of laughed off my swim and continued downriver. Not shortly after this though, I heard Steve yelling and turned around to see him trying to save his fly rod that had got caught in a tree while drifting too close to it. That’s no joke in the fast moving waters and in the dark, but thankfully, another disaster was averted as he saved the rod. Once again, a close call, but no harm was done.

Strike Three

After waiting for Steve to free his rod and catch back up, he quickly (and unintentionally) passed me. His pontoon is the frameless type – an Outcast Stealth Pro. Dare I say, that boat is his pride and joy. It’s also very fast compared to my steel-framed Outcast Fish Cat XL-IR. So, he tends to ride ahead of me as a result.

I was putting my phone away at this point, after using it to photograph the above brown drake (yes, it has a decent macro camera!). I’d stashed the phone in my top shirt pocket, then quickly grabbed the oars as the boat was turning sideways through some fairly fast moving water. As I rowed to right the boat, I heard a loud “ka-plunk“. It took me a second to register that sound, then began wondering what it could have been. I looked all around, wondering if perhaps I had something on my lap that fell in. My panic increased as I imagined something important (but still unsure what it could be) falling into the dark depths of the river. As I was looking down, I noticed the zipper of my top shirt pocket unzipped – and EMPTY!!

My heart sank, as I realized that my $1500 phone just sank to the bottom of the river, in the pitch dark! I was at least 50 meters downstream of where it would have fallen in already and I began to frantically back paddle, to no avail. The river was very fast in this spot and there was no way to make upstream progress. Not knowing what else to do as more distance continued to add up between me and the point of entry, I foolishly jumped off my boat – thankfully this time, into water that was shallow enough to stand in. I put my headlamp on high beam and began dragging my pontoon back upstream, in the middle of the river. Deep down I knew that I had almost no hope of finding my phone, which was at least 100 meters or more upstream, in some unknown location at the bottom of the river. I could only hope that the river depth would hold and that the phone would be sitting on the bottom in such a way that my headlamp’s light might reveal its reflection.

Miraculously, for the third time this evening, I was thrown a bone. I managed to walk upstream far enough, get lucky enough to have a near perfect lie of my phone and shine my light in just the right location to see it sitting at the bottom of the river in about three feet of water. I reached down to grab it, submerging the rest of my upper body that hadn’t yet been soaked from the previous dump. The phone (Pixel 7 Pro) is waterproof and other than a warning about water in the USB port, was back in hand, unscathed and working!

Three Strikes and You’re Out?

I thought that’s how the saying goes – three strikes and you’re out. Somehow, we were still going though. We certainly weren’t laughing, but we were floored by how many chances we’d been given thus far. The river seemed to be teaching us some real lessons, that’s for sure.

I could only imagine what Steve was thinking at this point. I’d been screaming, but he was way too far downstream to know what was going on. When I finally caught back up to him and explained the situation, he could only share in the disbelief in how we’d been so unlucky (and lucky) tonight.

We were only a couple bends way from our exit point now, which we managed to carefully float back to without any more mishaps. I was freezing and soaked, but had my phone. Steve had his rod. We were in one piece!

We followed our usual routine from here, which is to first carry my (heavier) boat up to my truck and load it in the back. Then we carried Steve’s lighter boat and loaded it on top of my boat, strapping both boats to the truck with some tie down straps. We’ve done this countless times over the last couple of years and have always felt confident about the setup. It’s only a few short, quiet kilometers of travel back to the start point where Steve’s truck is parked.

However, on this particular night, something felt different. That difference was obviously all of the events that transpired earlier, but it was also fairly windy. It felt like a storm was brewing and there was an ominous feeling in the air. So, I was extra careful and made sure the boats were tied down well and that we definitely had all our gear loaded up. I drove slower than usual this time, trying to keep an eye on the back of the truck, to make sure everything stayed put. Again, I don’t usually have a care in the world when doing this.

It was pitch dark and difficult to see through the back tinted glass. As we drove slowly on the quiet highway back to the access, I thought I heard something from the back. I asked Steve to check if everything looked alright back there. We both looked, but neither of us could really see well enough to verify. I had a bad feeling, so pulled the truck over onto the shoulder. I opened the back sliding window and that bad feeling started to get worse – almost panic again. I quickly got out of the truck to check the truck bed – and Steve’s boat was GONE! It literally was no longer in the back of the truck and we couldn’t see it on the road behind us!

I’m not sure what felt worse for me at this point – seeing my $1500 phone go missing, or seeing Steve’s even more expensive boat disappear from the back of my truck. Both were intense, that’s all I can say, but Steve’s boat probably took the cake. I think we both had visions of a car or truck running it over (which would have been bad for both parties!) or it being completely mangled. I jumped in the truck and quickly made my way back up the road, being careful to not hit it myself! I was pretty far back and we were lucky enough that no vehicles had driven by yet. We spotted the boat sitting almost perfectly on the shoulder of the road, off the road itself – albeit upside down. It looked to be in one piece and upon further inspection, indeed it was. There was a busted GoPro mount and some serious beating done to a Scotty arm mount – which seemed to have absorbed a lot of the impact and lived to tell the tale! One of the front corners of the boat also looked like it hit the road and had a pretty good scuff mark, but nothing through to the inflatable pontoons thankfully.

The strap that I’d tied the boat down with tore right off his boat. I guess a big gust of wind must have lifted the boat like a sail and just snapped it off instantly. Steve was either faking things really well, or just happy to see his boat was not completely trashed. Either way, he was taking it extremely well. We gathered his seat and a couple other things that had gone flying and ended up in the middle of the road. At one point, another truck pulled over after passing by to make sure everything was ok.

This was our fourth mishap of the night and they seemed to be getting progressively worse. Needless to say, we were extremely cautious from this point on. We got ourselves sorted, tied his boat down again (this time much more reliably) and I proceed to crawl the truck back to the access. We unwound and packed everything away before convincing each to be extremely cautious on the long ride home, given all that had unfolded today. Thankfully, we did indeed make it back home safe and sound – me still damp but with my phone – Steve with his boat in one piece but a little more “used”.

They say that the vast majority of car accidents happen within 10 miles of one’s home. I managed to travel 10 hours to the middle of the Lake Superior backcountry, paddle across frigid deep lakes, sleep in a hammock in bear country, portage with 150lb of gear through mud and over hills so large that they could easily be called mountains and come out with far less scrapes than this seemingly routine and simple float down a local southern Ontario river. Other than thanking my lucky stars and being grateful that things turned out the way they did, I’m going to take the lesson mother nature gave us to heart – which is to slow down, think twice (or thrice) and never get too comfortable or complacent.

The post Debacles After Dark appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

It was another super enjoyable trip. Despite the overall slow fishing, I still managed to get into a couple nice trout. Check out the full trip report below.

July 2023: Dunlop Lake Loop
A 3 day loop through some Algoma country back lakes

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That said, there are still plenty of rivers and lakes with more than enough water, even in dry years such as this one – and that’s where I’ve spent most of this season. They aren’t particularly close by for me, so it does mean some extra driving. Sometimes I’ll try to make the most of my trips though and stay a night (or, a week, or more…).

On the longer trips, I’m in the back country with a canoe and tent (or hammock). I’ve got a new trolling setup for the fly rod this year with the new(ish) universal Scotty rod holder, which works well for pretty much any rod type – casting, spinning or fly rod. Of course, I’m not only trolling from the canoe. I’ll also cast (mostly streamers) when I’m not travelling or trying to locate fish – but it’s nice to keep a line in the water even while travelling.

Closer to home, trout fishing has been mostly done while drifting in the pontoon, on rivers with plenty of water and where covering ground is easy and quick.

I’ve got two Scotty fly rod holders on my pontoon (the red XL-IR above), but they’re used only for transporting my rods. I bring two with me, so that I can rig them up with a different setup and easily switch between them. That’s one great thing about pontoon boats – you can load basically everything you would ever need and not have to worry about carrying it on your back or hip.

I haven’t exactly had the most success with the browns this year, especially when it comes to big browns. A combination of timing and losing fish – but that’s how fishing goes, especially when learning new water. It’s about time to start thinking about getting out for some night fishing though – and that will surely change my luck. There’s also the hope of hitting a good late Hex hatch (Hexagenia Autrocaudata).

I’ve had a couple nice browns hooked up, only to be lost on a jump or poor hookup. Still, there have been plenty of 10-14 inchers, which are never a disappointment.

One recent trip float also netted a decent Rainbow Trout that put a nice bend in the 4 weight.

And let’s not forget the numerous brookies. Suffice it to say, while no trophies were caught this season (in the front country), the trout trifecta has been a common occurrence on outings. Can’t complain about that!

For hatches, Stoneflies have been in a great abundance this year. They began showing up earlier than normal and they’re still sticking around in good numbers.

You may have seen the top of these flies (as pictured above), or you’ve seen them fluttering over the river. But there’s a good chance you haven’t seen the bottom side of a golden stone, which is what the fish see from below! If you tie your own flies, that’s a pretty important part of the fly. So, here you are…

The other hatch that has been fairly abundant on some rivers this year (aside from the usual Isonychia) is the Brown Drake. This is a good sized mayfly that can bring some solid fish to the surface. It seemed to stick around for quite a long time this year. At least twice already, a good month after fishing them earlier in the season, we saw some size 10-12 mayflies in the air before dusk and mistakenly thought they were Isonychia. It wasn’t until catching one much later that we realized they were actually Brown Drakes. We thought for sure they’d be done by now. That might explain our snubs from some decent fish those evenings.

Hard to believe it’s the end of July already. There’s only two more months of trout season left, with just a couple major hatches to look forward to. Smallmouth bass will be getting some attention as well, along with at least one more late season backcountry trip for trout.

The post Mid Summer Update appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

Unlike the rivers, this season has started off pretty slow for me (due the the winding down part mentioned above). In the time I have found to get out, I’ve stuck close to home – repeating my tradition of avoiding the more overcrowded rivers in favor of small stream brookies.

Fishing small streamers for brookies on a frigid opening day.

Opening day was cold and mostly unproductive, at least for the first couple of hours. We didn’t get out until late afternoon and opted to fish some familiar brookie water, which showed some signs of other anglers having fished it before us. It was cold enough to warrant gloves and toques and we were rewarded with only a couple small brookies.

First brookie of the year. Sometimes you have to take what you can get.

With little to show for our efforts, we got back in the truck and headed to another spot that we frequent less (and seems to receive less fishing pressure as well). The stream here was in excellent condition due to the higher than normal spring water levels and the brookies were more cooperative. We hooked into a few good fish before the day was over… Ryan in particular landed a couple nice brookies in some of the better holes, all of which were quite fond of a tiny black bugger.

A nice small stream Brookie Ryan hooked on opening day.

Fast forward a couple weeks and the weather has taken a turn for the better, with just enough rain and temperatures high enough to kick-start some bug activity. I made a last minute decision to hit up another brookie stream for a couple hours after work, for no other reason than to wind down from a busy day. It turned out to be a wise decision, as I was met with near ideal conditions: perfect water levels and clarity, a flurry of Hendrickson spinners and a lot of hungry brook trout!

Lots of Hendrickson activity had the brookies eager to eat.

I fished the same water a week earlier and had left fairly disappointed – having caught only a single wild brookie and an ugly stocked trout that seemed to have somehow survived the winter. It’s water that typically fished well regardless of conditions and I wondered if the health of the stream had deteriorated.

My worries were put to rest on this day however, with nearly two dozen wild brookies caught in the span of an hour and a half. I fished a beaten up Hendrickson from last year, with a yellow egg sac to match the naturals. It was good enough to fool them, as I quickly hooked into my nicest brookie of the season so far.

An excellent small stream brookie, unusually chunky and colorful for this time of year.

In addition to the bigger brookies, I was happy to have also caught a number of tiny overzealous brookies. Along with the many I caught, I missed countless others that thrashed carelessly at my fly – which was far too large for them to take on. Seeing these fish in such numbers is a great sign that the stream is still in very good health.

One of many small brookies learning valuable life lessons via catch and release.

As the evening progressed and the sunlight dwindled, I switched out my now beaten up and difficult to see Hendrickson for a bushier Red Humpy. I tend to have a lot of luck with this fly, especially during Hendrickson or Isonychia hatches. It has brought up some large brook and brown trout for me, when other flies were less productive. To be honest, it probably has a lot more to do with confidence than it does the fly.

A pretty brook trout (aren’t they all?) taken on a Red Humpy later in the evening.

One more good sized brookie that went bonkers for a Red Humpy.

It’s nice to see bug season in full swing now. With the long weekend approaching (and some free time to spare), I’ll likely get out a couple times for Brookies in the coming days. I’ll also finally be spending some much-needed time chasing Brown Trout as well.

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I won’t say it’s been a record season for me though, as I had an especially difficult time keeping big fish on the line earlier in the season. I’m not sure if I’ve finally shaken the dust off my streamer fishing skills, or if the trout have had a change in attitude (or both), but hook-ups with big fish have picked up somewhat over the last month for me. I suppose I can also attribute this to the arrival of warmer weather and the corresponding increase in night fishing success.

A big wild brown from last week, caught just past dark.

The above fish was caught just past dark on a last-minute trip to the river after work. I had tied a couple realistic stonefly patterns using some newly ordered Hemingway wings and I was hoping to give them a try. However, forgetting about the rain we had the day before, I was greeted by a chocolate colored river when I arrived.

A day in the life of a river this season – high and dirty.

The stoneflies were definitely out, but the fish were too busy dealing with the low visibility to care much. I haven’t been finding a lot of time to tie flies this year, so I’ve been keeping a vice and box of tying supplies in my truck for emergencies. My supply of articulated streamers was in shambles, so I decided to tie one in the back of the truck before hitting the river. I went with a bright color given the water conditions.

A last minute tie in the back of my truck before hitting the river.

The result was four big fish in a couple hours, although only two were landed.

Another slightly smaller wild brown from the same night.

As is usual for me, big streamers and mouse patterns have been moving most of my larger fish. I’ve had a couple nice fish on stoneflies as well on the clearer days and I know for a fact that nymphs have also been catching a lot of big fish for people this year – in pretty much all water conditions.

Most of my trout (but not all) have also been caught past dark this month, largely because my weekends have been a write-off and fishing after work often doesn’t get me to the river until 7 or 8 o’clock. The fish below was another memorable one that smashed a streamer early evening in some more off-colored water.

A good looking brown caught on an articulated streamer on a mid-July early evening.

This fish was followed up by yet another decent brown shortly past dark on the same night – and it was preceded by a slightly larger one a week earlier.

The first brown of the season caught on a mouse pattern.

Needless to say, it’s been a pretty good season this year if you’ve been willing to put away the dry flies and emergers and fish meatier flies. I don’t expect this to let up any time soon, but hopefully we’ll be treated to some good dry fly days as well.

We still have lots to look forward to in August… terrestrials, late Isonychia, the understated White Miller, perhaps some straggler stoneflies and of course, even better night fishing. If you’re a masochist, there’s also the Trico hatches.

The post Big Water, Big Flies, Big Fish appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

The weather hasn’t exactly been ideal for mayfly hatches this season, though it’s given us some really nice water levels going into the end of spring. We did get a good run of weather in time for the drake hatch though, which started promptly on the first day of June. A number of anglers and “bug watchers” were out eagerly awaiting the beginning of the hatch and all saw good numbers of Green Drake duns that evening.

A Green Drake dun from the beginning of the 2017 hatch on the Credit River.

Compared to last year, the duns seemed fairly small on average, though the trout weren’t overly concerned about it. The pool I was fishing had several Browns interested in the emerging duns, more than can be said for most of the remainder of the hatch.

Typically the spinner (Coffin Fly) is what really gets the fish excited – and although it was too early to expect spinners, I’d tied only a single Green Drake dun for our evening fish. I brought a friend along, hoping to get him into a nice Credit River Brown. We sat for a while and simply observed, until some fish began rising in a foam patch at the back of the pool. When the rises became regular, I tied on the only dun I had and carefully placed several casts across the pool into the foam. It didn’t take long before hooking into a nice mid-sized brown that eagerly inhaled the size 8 extended body fly.

A good looking Credit River Brown Trout taken on a Green Drake Dun at the start of the hatch.

In hindsight, I should have let Ryan take the first casts, as we failed to fool any more trout for the remainder of the night (except on nymphs). Mind you, we only fished a small piece of water and had limited time before the sun went down.

A small Brown that took a Green Drake nymph.

Along with the drakes were a good amount of foxes, increasing in number as the sun faded. It’s possible the trout were more interested in the foxes, but I didn’t have any such flies with enough weight to penetrate the foam where the browns were rising.

Grey Foxes were thick for most of the drake hatch (and beyond).

When the sun did finally set and only the very odd rise could be seen at the back of the pool (and when we gave up trying to convince them to take a drake or fox imitation), I decided to try a large mouse(like) fly before calling it a night. I wasn’t expecting anything, but since there were some trout obviously looking up, I thought I’d give it a try just in case.

Well, a few casts in, as our eyes were still adjusting to the dark, a huge fish came right out of the water in the corner of the pool for my fly. In the light, the shape appeared to be that of a brown… only, it was huge… close to 30 inches was my guess. We both freaked out, thinking it was the biggest brown of our lives.

Unfortunately, if history teaches me anything about this river, it’s that when I think I’ve hooked a 30″ brown, it’s probably a Pike. This held true once again as I managed to land the fish on my 4 weight.

Another unfortunate catch on the upper Credit, briefly mistaken for a huge trout.

The next evening was similar to the first, with a large number of Green Drake duns and a few spinners later on. However, fishing was much tougher, with only a couple smaller fish hooked on a fox dry. Not many risers and much less interest both my duns and spinners. Apparently the peak activity was earlier (before 6:30 pm, which is when I arrived at the river), so perhaps I missed the better window.

A coffin fly (spinner) from the second night of the hatch.

I fished a couple more times over the next week and witnessed a couple fairly thick spinner falls, both of which started extremely late and didn’t bring any large fish to the net. It wasn’t until last Thursday, when only a few straggler spinners were left kicking around, that I hooked two more chunky, colorful browns. I caught the browns back to back blindly fishing a spinner imitation on a nice run. Considering the lack of activity, I was only half-heartedly casting and not expecting the catches – so didn’t have my camera ready. It just goes to show you though: even when trout aren’t actively rising, if there were recently big bugs on the river, short-term memory may very well be enough to trigger a strike from a decent fish.

Although the fishing wasn’t quite up to par with last year, the Green Drakes certainly made another decent appearance and it seems that they have indeed made somewhat of a comeback on the upper Credit. Unfortunately though, this is true for only a small section of the river – with the West branch still almost completely devoid of them. I suppose there’s still hope that other sections of the river may also slowly recover their populations.

Over the course of the hatch, in addition to the regular folks, I met a few new people on the river as well, including a couple friendly guys (Simon and Paul) who recognized me from the blog. It’s always great meeting like-minded anglers on the river and putting faces to names. Simon was fishing a pretty sweet setup too (the same rod and reel as me, up one weight)

From here on out, we have Isonychia and Stoneflies to look forward too, as well as some night fishing as the weather continues to warm into the summer.

The post Green Drake Hatch, 2017 appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

Early spring was largely spent pursuing brook trout on small, quiet streams. The MNR dumped an undisclosed number of adult/broodstock Atlantic Salmon into the upper Credit this year, including some previously brook trout only sections of river. This drew an unprecedented number of new anglers to the river – some with good intentions and others, not so much. The fact that these fish were dumped into some of the smaller brookie-only waters (which were already sensitive to over-fishing and predation) had me pretty unhappy about the state of things on the Credit, so I stayed clear of that area for a while.

A small stream brook trout from early season.

I never get sick of the colors on these fish.

When I did return to fish the brookie-only section of the Credit where the Atlantics were dumped, what I found were far less brookies and instead, a bunch of atlantics and a few rainbows. The rainbows were quite unexpected as I had rarely seen them in this section of river before. I’m not sure how to explain that. My normal fish catches in this section of river from years past were something like: brookies 96%, rainbows 2%, browns 2%. This year’s visit yielded me more atlantics and rainbows than brookies. I hope I was just unlucky…

One of a couple unexpected catches in primarily brookie-only water on the Credit

There’s been no lack of rain this spring and it’s kept our rivers in a constant struggle to stabilize themselves. Whenever it seemed they were just about ready to settle down, we’d get dumped on again and start all over. This is to be expected in spring, but it did have an impact on the early insect hatches. Hendricksons in particular were not nearly as successful (from a fishing standpoint) as last year due to all the rain and corresponding temperature fluctuations.

Water level graph for the upper Credit River this spring.

As you can see by the graph above, water levels on the upper Credit have been all over the place (the blue dotted line is the average). There have been some opportunities for dry fly fishing amidst this, but there’s also been lots of opportunities for throwing big streamers. This is something that can be both a blessing and a curse.

On the plus side, big streamers catch big fish. But on the negative side, well… big streamers only catch big fish. Actually, there are rare cases where this isn’t true, but for the most part we can ignore that.

A large articulated streamer that was lost to a log jam shortly after being tied

High, off-colored water is a perfect excuse to fish big streamers and if you cover enough quality water, you’re more than likely to move some huge trout. This was the case for me, as I elicited strikes from at least a dozen large trout over several days of streamer fishing – some subtle and some extremely violent and rod bending. Unfortunately though, in all cases, I failed to hook up with the fish. One particular strike that occurred just as the fly hit the water at the back of a very big pool still haunts me daily. That fish moved more water than any I can ever recall.

My failure to hook up with fish was a stark difference from last season when I missed very few strikes on big streamers. I’ve been toying with which hook to cut off on my articulated streamers this year, leaning more towards keeping the front hook (whereas last year I was fishing the back hook). I’m not sure if this played a part, or if it was bad luck or my own error, but I accepted it as part of the challenge and risk of this type of fishing.

When the rivers were tame and fishing normally, I was back to my old ways, stalking wild trout with more delicacy and matching the hatch. Despite being ashamed that the biggest fish I caught this season so far was a hatchery-raised atlantic, I’ve certainly also caught a few memorable brown trout.

One in particular was during a recent Grey Fox hatch while fishing with a friend. There was a single trout rising in a pool we were fishing, in a slow pocket at the back of the pool. In between us and the pocket was a lot of very fast moving water, which made presenting a dry fly nearly impossible (for more than a split second). I decided to move a good distance up above the pool, putting several other pockets and an overhanging tree in between me and the fish. There was a current seam from this position, that, with some patience and many mends, could deliver my fly along the insect escalator, under the tree to the feeding fish. I managed to deliver a perfect drift over the fish and it inhaled the fly with a convincing take.

Not very big, but a beautiful Credit River brown trout and a memorable one nonetheless.

A nice Credit River brown taken on a technical Grey Fox drift.

Grey Foxes have been fairly prevalent this year on the Credit.

When the fish and bugs were inactive, going sub-surface with nymphs also yielded a few decent browns.

An otherwise handsome Credit River brown with some battle wounds.

Another medium sized plump brown taken on a nymph.

It’s good to see the river in relatively good health as of late and somewhat refreshing to be catching smaller fish and seeing lots of insect activity. The Grey Foxes are still going strong. They seem to be quite prolific this year, more so than I remember in past years (but perhaps I just missed them). Even more exciting though is the insect that overlaps the foxes and has been underway for a few days now on the Credit… the Green Drake. I’ll post more on these when the hatch is complete –  and hopefully they’ll stick around for a bit longer. With all the rain and storms we’re expected to get in the coming days, I’d hate that to result in a short-lived (and barely fished) Green Drake hatch.

The post Catching Up appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

Trout season kicked off a couple weeks ago and I’ve been uncharacteristically slow to take advantage of it. I injured my knee over the winter (torn ACL) and thanks to our great free healthcare system, I’ve made little to no progress in getting it treated or even looked at yet. I’m sure those who know me are sick of hearing me complain about it. Anyway, it’s had me sidelined and will no doubt continue to affect the type of fishing I’m able to do this season. That said, I’m pretty stubborn and have already found myself scaling beaver dams and hiking terrain much more rugged than I should have been.

My few outings so far have once again been dedicated to brook trout on small streams, something I just never get tired of. For me, the allure of these fish lies in their diversity and in the environments they inhabit. Small, cold, clean headwaters streams that are often overgrown and difficult to present a fly to provide a constant challenge. Every fish is a treat as no two are alike and while the smaller fish are usually eager to take a fly, the largest southern Ontario brookies are truly elusive.

I fished the last couple evenings and at times the Hendrickson hatches were very thick. In fact, they seem to be the thickest I can recall in the last several years. Unfortunately, I haven’t been on the water for a really good spinner fall yet, but the fish are keying in on them nonetheless.

Hendrickson from a fairly thick hatch on a small stream.

Each evening has produced a dozen or so trout, with many missed rises and brook trout juveniles attacking my fly with reckless abandon. At times the abundance of smaller fish can be detrimental to catching a larger fish that is holding in the same water, since the smaller fish will dart to your fly without a second thought. The result is the larger fish being put down after hooking the smaller one. This has certainly been the case a few times already this season for me.

An average, colorful small stream brookie from the weekend.

I also had a run-in with yet another Pike in a large slow hole on one of my favorite local streams. I was casting to brookies when I noticed something very large swaying back and forth at the bottom of the pool. From its long slender body, it was immediately obvious that it was a Pike: around 5-6 lbs. In an attempt to remove it from the stream, I cut the tippet off my leader and managed to sink a large streamer in front of the pike’s nose and hook it. It wasted no time in abusing my flimsy 3 weight and excess fly line slack and wrapped my line around a sunken tree. Needless to say, it’s still terrorizing the brookies in that hole.

I’m hoping to get some Hendrickson spinners tied in the next day or so and get back out while the hatches are still good. I may need to pack a heavier rod as well and pay that pike another visit.

The post Happy Hendrickson Day appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

A peaceful stretch on the Upper Credit River, now overrun with 4-6″ Atlantic Salmon juveniles.

In an effort to start things off on a more positive note, I want to share a couple great videos that my friend Steve Noakes compiled, sharing some of his fly fishing experiences on the Upper Credit River over the years. He’s a strong advocate for protecting what we have on the Credit River today and has been heavily involved in numerous conservation groups and restoration projects. If you ever doubted whether the Credit has a wild Brown Trout fishery worth protecting, Steve’s videos do a good job convincing you it does!

I’ve already written a bunch about the issues the river is currently facing, some of which you can read here. There’s also an interesting thesis on the subject, written a few years ago by a University of Waterloo student. April Vokey even made a stop at the Credit River during part of the first episode of Shorelines last year, where she interviewed and talked with several key people on the subject. Although you won’t find a lot of political debate or side-taking on the show, I’ve heard from at least a couple people who have exchanged words or email with her, that it was shocking how many strongly opposing voices were encountered during the process.

I find it interesting that after so many years of having such a high quality resident trout fishery, only now are people starting to talk about it publicly. In fact, The New Fly Fisher even aired a show on fly fishing for Brown Trout on the Credit recently, something that I believe would not have happened during the river’s tight-lipped past. I can only wonder whether part of the inspiration for airing this was to raise awareness of the river and the great wild trout fishery that exists, at a time when the river has little left to lose (i.e. Atlantic program and proposed Brown Trout culling by MNR). I could probably write a whole series of blog posts on the subject of naming rivers, but the long and short of it is: perhaps things would look differently today if there had been less secrecy, more awareness and more voices to speak up.

All is not lost (at least not yet), but if things don’t change, it will be. I mentioned the proposed Brown Trout culling above and also in previous posts. The unfortunate truth is, even though this is only still a draft proposal, there is already culling going on in secrecy. There is evidence of at least one occurrence of a number of large browns being lifted out of a section of the upper river. I’m not sure where they were taken, but my guess is they either died during the lifting/transfer process or they were dumped somewhere into the lower river where they will die shortly afterwards (and where there is no suitable spawning habitat).

It seems that every time I write a post on this subject, I have to cut out three quarters of what I want to say just to keep things on topic and interesting. Rather than having all this information eventually get buried in old blog posts, I plan to add a new top-level page to this site that’s dedicated to the topic and more easily accessible. If you have pictures, videos, information or simply ideas you’d like to share on this subject, feel free to let me know and I’ll consider adding it to that page or linking it.

Despite the gloom, I’m very much looking forward to getting back on the river when the season opens and making the most of what we still have. Only one month left until opener!

The post Credit River Woes appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

In the meantime though, I’ve gotten out for some stillwater trout fishing at my usual spot. On calm days at this time of year, trout are cruising the shallows and stripping small unweighted streamers has been both fun and productive. It’s a nice change from having to fish an indicator setup or a sink tip line to deeper fish in hotter weather.

Stillwater fly fishing in the fall is about as peaceful as it gets.

Stillwater fly fishing often gets a bad rap around fly fishing purists, especially if stocked trout are involved. I know I’ve been guilty of this, but spending some time with it over the last couple years has changed my opinion. Would I choose it over wading wild rivers for native trout? Not really… Would I prefer if the stillwaters I fished were 100% native trout? Absolutely! However, I don’t have control over these factors and I’ve found stillwater the perfect substitute when neither of the latter are possible. It also helps (a lot) knowing that a healthy population of native Brookies occupy the same water.

As far as I’m concerned, catching any fish is exciting, be it a native Brown Trout, Bass, Carp, Sunfish or stocked Rainbow. There’s certainly no mistaking a five-pound stocked Rainbow for a native Brookie, but there’s a wide range of fish in these waters. The thrill of wondering whether a two+ pound trout at the end of my line is a stocked Rainbow or possibly the biggest southern Ontario native Brook Trout I’ve ever caught is what keeps things exciting.

A chunky stillwater stocked rainbow from a couple weeks ago.

Speaking of Brookies though, I stuck around after dark for a bit the last time I was out (it’s hard not to when the days get so short) and the Brookies became really aggressive. Some above average fish were coming to the surface and I hooked into more twelve to fourteen inch Brookies than I probably ever have in a single outing.

One of several nice Brook Trout caught shortly after dark.

The colours on these fish were stunning, as is to be expected at this time of year. A bit of daylight to add some more interesting background and colour to the photos would have been nice though.

Another beautiful stillwater Brookie caught before calling it a night.

Of course, intermixed with the handful of Brook Trout were a bunch of Rainbows, but as mentioned before, this kept things interesting. I’m positive I lost at least one Brookie that was quite a bit bigger, but I feel like I end most posts with a statement like that…

I plan on getting out for Steelhead this week. Hopefully there will be a fish or two to show for it, but it will beat working either way.

The post No Water? Stillwater! appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.