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.

The post Early Season Brookies appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

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

One of the more interesting discoveries for me has been the change in feeding habits of the trout at this time of year. Most of my success in the spring and summer was had via sinking lines and bead head streamers, with the odd fish taken near the surface (usually in the evenings). Nymphs and chironomids were also successful, but fished at similar depths. I’d see the odd fish rising, but fish were definitely deeper and spotting cruising fish was a fairly rare occurrence.

In contrast, most of my success this fall has been in much shallower water – usually 2-4 feet deep and often on the surface itself. When the water is clear (i.e. when it hasn’t rained for a couple days), it’s been a lot of sight fishing, which is always fun. A bushy dry fly such as a Stimulator, cast ahead of cruising fish has been one of my more successful approaches.

Even more reliable has been unweighted, beadless Woolly Buggers. These most basic of flies have finally found their forte for me, as they’re something I’d all but given up on many years ago. I still fish the weighted bead head versions with some frequency in rivers, as they can get down to the larger fish faster and have a much more life-like action to them. However, when it comes to fishing super slow in the top couple feet of the water column, I’ve found the classic beadless versions are perfect. As an added bonus, they can be fished as dry flies with a few false casts and/or stripped in the surface film. Smaller sizes, in the range of 6-12 seem to work best in the fall.

A large rainbow caught while sight fishing dry flies

The above fish was one of many fish taken on a dry fly. It wasn’t the biggest fish of the day though: I caught a much larger rainbow (also on a dry fly) that wouldn’t fit in my net. A fellow angler watched in laughter as I unsuccessfully tried to net it 4 times, before giving up and quickly unhooking and releasing it in the water. Apparently a larger net is going to be on the Christmas list this year.

The post Fall Rainbows appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

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.

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

In the few remaining minutes of light, three more brook trout in the 8-10″ range came to my net from the same pool. I’m not sure if I found the fabled Brook Trout hotspot that I’d heard stories about, but I was certain that I was on the right track!

Sunday was back to more familiar waters, in what would be the last day on my beloved Credit River for the season. As expected during this time of year, there area around the Upper Credit was utter chaos. Not due to fishermen, but nature watchers. Each year, autumn brings hordes of people from around the GTA to Caledon to hike and enjoy the scenic area and changing of the leaves. It means the normally peaceful and quiet streets are booming with cars and people for closing weekend.

Of course, fishing pressure is also expectedly higher, but nothing like that of more popular rivers such as the Grand. A little legwork goes a long way though, and it wasn’t long before I was on the river by myself, passing only a single pair of anglers all day.

Peace and quiet on a rugged section of the Credit River

The weather and scenery were excellent and the fishing was challenging, but solid. I caught a number of small browns, with one larger brown hooked and lost in some fast moving water. I also hooked into what I believe were a couple baby Atlantic Salmon, which is not surprising given the stocking being done in the Credit. I’ve mistaken these little guys as brown trout in the past, but the big give away is the heavily forked tail and the smaller mouth (does not extend past the eye). If you knew nothing about identifying these, you’d know somewhat was up when you hooked one as they are absolute rockets. Way too aggressive for their own good, these little fish put on quite the acrobatic show and (as you can see below) have no problem attacking flies the size of their own head.

I caught a couple of these small, super-aggressive stocked Atlantic Salmon

A friend and I spent the last two days of fishing season on the water as well. Monday was back to exploring new water, which turned out to be informative but entirely unproductive. We waded stretches of a larger river that lies between two dams, making fish passage up and downstream virtually impossible – thus greatly reducing the fish populations. Still, these sections are almost completely untouched by anglers and there are known to be some populations of resident trout in them, so it was worth at least an investigation. We waded some absolutely beautiful water, with some of the nicest pools and runs I’ve seen on any river in southern Ontario. It’s an absolute shame that this water goes almost completely unused and inaccessible to fish.

With a bit of time left to spare Monday, after hundreds of casts without a fish to show for it, we stopped off at a couple of the tributaries I fished days prior. My buddy was in disbelief over the stories I told of the fish in these waters, so I wanted to prove him wrong.

A slow section of a little stream we stopped off at on the way home

In the few minutes we spent fishing the first stream, I caught a bunch of small trout, including as a nice 9″ brookie. Ryan also managed to spook a much larger brookie from under a log while untangling his fly from a tree branch.

We then moved on to the same trib that I caught the 12″ brookie from Saturday. With the success I experienced last time, I confidently declared a guarantee of some big brookies. It was still relatively early when we got there though, with perfectly clear skies and bright sun shining down onto the stream. In the daylight, I was surprised at just how small the pool I caught the brookies from was – it seemed so much larger and deeper at night. Once again, Ryan was in disbelief that this tiny little pool would hold such fish; and I can’t really blame him.

We slowly walked up to the side of the pool, being careful to stay behind the tall grass so not to spook it. Unfortunately, a number of fish must have caught a glimpse of us and they were sent scurrying in all directions for cover, not to be seen again. The pool was spooked, but at least there was proof of some of the nice fish that inhabit it. It goes to show you just how important stealth is on these small streams.

Tuesday wrapped up fishing season with a day trip to the Grand River. This had been our regular stomping ground (when we fished together) for a couple years, but it treated us like shit this year with constantly high and murky waters and difficult fishing conditions. As such, this was our first trip back to the Grand in several weeks. The river had been a bit high (~10 cms) leading up closing weekend, but thankfully they dropped the flow down to just over 5 cms (which is about perfect) for the last day of fishing.

The Grand River – it can be frustrating trying to decide where to present a fly on this large river

We expected to face some finicky browns, as they’d undoubtedly been absolutely hammered with flies for the last 3 days straight. My thoughts were that we’d either have to exactly match the hatch (with perfect presentations), or use something different – something that the fish hadn’t seen hundreds or thousands of times before.

On that note, there’s an very simple nymph called Walt’s Worm that I’d been meaning to try for some time. I recently watched this video on tying the competitive style nymph on a jig hook. What appealed to me about this fly was its extreme simplicity, as well as the weight and anti-snag nature of it (due to the inverted jig hook). I really dislike having to add weight to my leader, so having a very fast sinking nymph is ideal. I feel like most of the time, we’re tying flies to please ourselves rather than the fish. Given the mangled bugs that regularly float down the river and the fact that you rarely see someone fishing such a simple looking nymph, I decided to tie a couple for our trip.

We were on the river by about 7 am, before the sun was up. We were both casting streamers – Ryan to a hole he knows holds a monster Brown and me to a run above that. Things were pretty slow for the first couple hours, as Ryan failed to entice the big brown to come out and I missed 3-4 hits on a size 6 woolly bugger. Forgetting about the Walt’s Worms that I tied the night prior, I must have gone through a dozen flies (streamers, nymphs and wets) before finally deciding to tie a caddis dry fly on. I hadn’t seen a single fish rise all morning, but I was frustrated and wanted to have some stress free casting for a while. In fairness, it’s hard to go wrong with a caddis any time on the Grand… it may not always work, but if you have no other ideas, it’s probably a good place to start. A combination of desperation and luck brought the first fish of the day to the net.

The first Brown Trout of the day, caught on a Sparkle Caddis variation.

It worked out that shortly after tying on that caddis, the river came alive a bit and some fish started rising. There were decent numbers of caddis about, as well as solid numbers of BWO. It’s hard to say what they were actually feeding on, but we stuck to caddis and landed a few more fish before they stopped rising again.

With difficult fishing conditions setting in once more, we went back to trying streamers, caddis pupa, various emergers and BWOs. Other than the infrequent hit on a streamer, the fish just weren’t cooperating. After recalling the Walt’s Worms that I tied the night before, I decided to give one a try. A couple casts later and I hooked up to a decent fish. In fact, I began regularly hooking up to fish from that moment on with the Walt’s Worm (I also had luck with the Sexy Walt’s). I was fishing it without an indicator and the fast sinking fly made it easy to keep a tight line and detect hits. I dead drifted it near the bottom and fished it on the swing – I even caught some rising fish with it!

One of several nice brown trout taken on a Walt’s Worm

Despite a decent number of fish landed (at least compared to previous trips to the Grand this year), it was a fairly tiring and hard fished day. After a late 2:00 lunch, the river was filling up with anglers and the fishing was continuing to slow down. We finished off the day fishing dry flies up by the 2nd Line bridge, hoping for more rising fish. I only found one such fish and it came to my net.

Last resident trout of 2014, once again caught on a Sparkle Caddis

All in all, 2014 was a memorable trout season, though somewhat of a polar opposite to last season. While last year I focused heavily on catching large browns in well known water, this year was much more focused on exploring new waters and new techniques. I traded the fewer (bigger) browns for more (smaller) trout and easily caught some of my nicest resident brookies to date. I also caught my first steelhead on a fly, as well as my largest bass to date.

While I take a long break from resident trout fishing, I still have a few months of fishing bass, steelhead and trout ponds. Now if only Sage could hurry and return my twice broken 6 weight VXP so I have something between a 4 and 8 weight to fish with…

The post 2014 Trout Closing Weekend appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

This is the time of year where our fly boxes need to be the most diverse. Depending on the time of day, river and hatches, you might be casting streamers, nymphs, wet flies, emergers, tiny dries, large dries, or even huge topwater patterns. Consequently, I’ve been hitting the tying bench a lot lately, trying to cover all my bases. In what has been an increasing trend of mine, I’ve concentrated more on sub-surface patterns this season to up my odds when fish are either not rising, or when they’re rising but refusing dry flies. Below are some flies I’ve been tying and fishing on some of my local waters.

Grand River

If you fish the Grand River, you know how frustrating it can be if you rely on dry flies to match the hatch. Although I don’t spend as much time on the Grand as I do other rivers, I’ve come to realize that it’s a largely sub surface and emerger river. In response to this, I tied a bunch of the following emerger patters in various sizes, mainly for caddis and blue winged olive hatches. I’m sure that by simply swapping out different colors and materials, these could be used to imitate a much wider variety of caddis and mayflies.

Caddis or BWO emerger, loosely based off a Snowshoe Emerger pattern

A variation of the above fly, tied with slightly different materials and colors

A sparkle caddis pupa emerger, which (in various styles) has done well on the Grand

Caddis pupa nymph: one of the simplest, yet most effective sub-surface flies on the Grand

As a reminder of just how versatile you need to be, I set out to the Grand River last Saturday with a friend and a bunch of the above flies. The weather was perfect, flows were low and there had been no rain for many days prior. Our expectations were high: clear conditions, lots of bugs and rising trout. We spent a total of about 12 hours on the water that day and what we were met with instead was very murky, low-visibility water and not a single witnessed fish rise for the entire day (on the upper and mid stretches). We fished during one of the thickest caddis hatches I’d seen in quite some time, with loads of large caddis floating down the river and fluttering helplessly on the surface – yet we didn’t see a single fish come up. It wasn’t until we drove several kilometers downstream to the lower river (which usually has less visibility than the upper) that the water cleared up and we got into some rising fish. I later learned that the water clarity issues were caused by the first big algae bloom of the year.

Credit River

I was on the Credit after work a couple weeks ago and managed to hit a smorgasbord of hatch activity, with Sulphurs, Isonychia and Caddis all in good numbers. Despite the impressive hatches, fish activity was surprisingly average that evening. I saw and caught a few small fish that were rising, but nothing out of the ordinary. The point is, it takes more than nice weather and lots of bugs to reliably bring up larger trout. I’ve fished many smaller hatches on the Credit in the recent past, with much more (and bigger) fish. I specifically remember an evening a couple years ago at the busiest access point on the river (normally the least-productive fishing) where an Isonychia hatch brought numerous 12-16″ browns to the surface in a feeding frenzy.

For the Credit, I find matching the hatch is generally less of a factor than the Grand. More important on the Credit is presentation and stealth. This isn’t surprising considering the greater angling pressure on the Grand and much smaller, technical water of the Credit. If you’re fishing dry flies, you can usually pick a common food source such as an Isonychia, Stonefly or simply use an attractor. Personally, I like bushy dry flies here, unless there’s a prolific hatch going on: a Stimulator or Humpy are two of my favorites. My only gripe with the humpy is that it can be annoyingly difficult to tie.

Stimulator: One of my favorite and most productive dry flies for the Credit River

Bead Head Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail: One of my favorite sub-surface flies, especially for pocket water and small streams

A simple Isonychia Parachute pattern, effective for imitating this abundant mayfly

A Sulphur soft hackle, effective when sulphurs are out or as a searching pattern

Gurgler: One of my go-to night patterns that I tie in various styles and colors

If I had to fish the Credit with only two flies, the Stimulator and Bead Head Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail would probably be my choices. As mentioned though, I think fly choice is more a matter of personal preference here. I have no doubt that a good Isonychia nymph or simple Walt’s Worm would do equally as well (if not better).

Stillwaters

My experience with stillwater fly fishing is laregly limitted to local stocked water, with the exception of some native brookies and warm water species. Still, I’ve done some experimenting and found a few options that work well for me. I highly recommend checking out the various videos and articles by fellow Canadians Phil Rowley and Brian Chan, who are highly regarded as experts in this area. They’ll tell you that fly selection is much less important than tactics and this has definitely held true for me. Still, its nice to have a few patterns that have proven to be effective.

Slow retrieved nymphs and chironomids are known to be some of the most productive flies, but I’ve found more actively retrieved streamers to be a good all around choice as well – not just for trout, but also for bass and other species.

Redneck Bugger (as I call it): A crystal bugger with a red hackle neck

CB Stocker: Another simple and effective streamer for trout

The above streamers are easy to tie and have worked well for me for both stocked rainbows and smallmouth bass (for the latter, especially the bugger). On days when fish are rising and sometimes even when there are no visible rises, such as warm days when the water is extremely calm, I’ve had a lot of success with a Stimulator. This versatile fly (shown above) can represent a host of different insects: from stoneflies to caddis to hoppers. It also floats extremely well and can be twitched on the surface to entice a strike.

I dont know if it’s just me though, but it seems that irregardlesss of preparations and fly boxes full of favourite patterns, more often than not I end up on the river feeling as though I’m missing some critical fly. This keeps my vise busy and shopping cart full with new tying materials.

The post Preparations appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

I left early (5:30 am) to ensure I’d have access to one of the few boats that are available for use. I was pretty surprised to find a couple others already on the water when I arrived at 6:15. I headed to a second pond that was still quiet and empty. It was as perfect a morning as they come and the water was like glass. It was refreshing to be out fishing without having to wear bulky waders and a vest/pack for once.

A quiet and peaceful morning on a trout pond.

I picked up a new 6 weight Sage VXP this season (which I got a great deal on) and decided to give it a try with some recently purchased sinking leaders. I’m new to the sinking leader thing and I’ve got to say, I’m in love with them. I picked up a couple 7ft 12lb RIO VersiLeaders @ 3.9 and 7 inches per second (ips), as well as a 10ft 24lb Airflo PolyLeader @ 6.1ips. Attaching these leaders via a looped connection to your floating line is an excellent way to fish deep with streamers, without needing a second spool of sinking line or having to add split shot. I found it extremely easy to fish streamers anywhere from a foot beneath the surface to 10+ feet down.

So, most of the morning was spent fishing streamers on sink tips and there was no shortage of action. I landed 6+ rainbows on Woolly Buggers and Mickey Finns, with several more lost.

A colourful rainbow caught on a productive white crystal bugger with red hackle collar.

Another nice average sized rainbow caught on a streamer.

As the morning progressed, a few fish began rising. I wasn’t sure what they were eating and for all I knew the rises could have simply been fish chasing minnows. The important thing is, some of them were looking up and I imagined it didn’t matter much what pattern I chose. I settled on something big and bushy: a size 10 stimulator, for no other reason than it would float well and I could twitch it to imitate any kind of big insect on the surface. To my surprise, the very first cast triggered the biggest rainbow of the day.

A large rainbow that slammed a simulator twitched on the surface.

Although I did manage to entice a few more rises with the dry fly, it turned out to be less reliable than streamers. I switched back to my sink tip and fished woolly buggers for another hour or so before packing up and heading to work. It sure is nice to have the flexible hours that I do, but I definitely paid for it that day as I struggled to stay awake at my desk. There’s nothing like waking up at 5:15 and spending 4-5 hours on the water in the sun to tire you out!

The post Stillwater Rainbows appeared first on Caffeinated Fly Fisher.

Unlike many excellent steelhead rivers in other regions that are open year round, we’re limited to fishing only the lower stretches of rivers that drain into the Great Lakes for the bulk of the year. The remaining middle and upper sections of rivers are open for steelhead only during regular trout season. This means that fishing between October to April has you sharing limited sections of open water with everyone else, while fishing the upper sections of water in the few weeks of open trout season when steelhead are still in the rivers brings massive crowds. Thankfully, this year’s colder temps and excessive precipitation seemed to have dragged out steelhead season longer than normal, providing more time and options to target them in the rivers.

So, a few days after opener, I hit a nearby tributary that I heard held decent numbers of fish. It’s a pretty quiet spot, surprisingly unusual to find other anglers around. The river is tight in this section, with lots of debris making it difficult to fight and land fish without having them run under a fallen tree or log jam and snap you off. My timing was right, with a good amount of rain falling in the days prior and water levels still high. Water clarity was also quite good here, making sight fishing a solid possibility. After a bit of scouting, I stumbled onto a pool with a number of active fish that seemed to be feeding.

A number of active steelhead could be seen feeding in this pool

I really wasn’t expecting to see this and likewise didn’t arrive with much of a game plan. In fact, I hadn’t prepared a single steelhead fly – no egg patterns, no bright headed buggers or anything other special. I had a bunch of size 12 hares ears, some white and black woolly buggers and a few other large streamers that I used for resident trout.

I started swinging size 6 buggers, but the fish didn’t seem interested. In addition to not enticing any strikes, I managed to spook the pool. I rested the water for a while until the fish moved back into a comfortable feeding mode. This time, I thought I’d go with a bolder piss them off type tactic and tied large fish skull zonker style streamer. Not something I would consider a typical fly for steelhead (but then, what do I know), it was actually the same fly I caught my 20″ brown with on opening day. After a few failed swings, I tried stripping it and hooked into my first fish!

Since I’d never caught a steelhead before, I didn’t really know what to expect. I was surprised at how fast I got it into my net, though after removing my fly it swiftly leapt out of the net and back into the water before I could snap a picture. In retrospect, while it fought harder than most of the browns I’d caught in the past, it wasn’t until my next several hookups that I realized it was an unusually gentle introduction to fighting steelhead.

My second fish came from the same pool a few minutes later, after switching to a Hares Ear when my streamer failed to produce any more hits. Watching my nymph drift downstream and seeing the entire take was pretty thrilling. I literally watched the fish open its jaws to inhale my offering. This fish put up a much better fight than the previous one, catching some serious air and skitting across the water as if it were water skiing. I managed to get a quick photo before releasing this one and by the dark colours I assume it had been in the river for quite a while.

My second steelhead on the fly (the first leapt out of my net before I could snap a photo)

Over the next hour or two, I managed to hook into a total of six fish, the first two (including the one pictured above) being the only landed. The remaining four proceeded to show me just how much power this fish have and used their strength and acrobatic abilities to either shake my barbless hooks free or break me off under log jams.

To be honest, as much fun as this was, coming from a primarily resident trout fisherman, I almost felt like this was cheating. Being able to see the fish, the fly and the whole take was pretty intense, but it somehow didn’t feel as rewarding as hooking into a fish holding on the bottom of a deep, dark, mysterious pool. I’m certainly not complaining, it just didn’t feel as rewarding as it might have if I had to work harder for the fish.

A few days later, a buddy of mine from Windsor was heading up to Mississauga for several days of training. It worked out that I was off all week and he was able to allocate a big chunk of time for a couple days to get out and fish. Him being an avid steelhead angler and me being keen to mooch some of his knowledge and tactics, we decided to spend the first evening hunting steelhead on a section of the Credit River that neither of us had ever seen or fished before. It was nothing like the small river I fished days before as it was a much larger river here with enough stain to make spotting fish impossible.

When we arrived, one guy was leaving and there was only one other car parked at the access point. Considering the popularity of the lower and middle Credit during steelhead season, this didn’t give me a lot of hope – but we geared up and hit the river nonetheless. We walked along the river bank looking for promising looking water. For the most part, the river here was wide, shallow and even. There wasn’t much for fish structure or interesting river characteristics. It wasn’t until several of minutes of walking that we came to a slight bend in the river with some deeper looking runs and pools. With nobody else in sight, we stopped here to try our luck.

I hadn’t finished setting up my line back at the car, so as I stood on the side of the river tying a leader,  Eric stepped into the river and began fishing the water at the tail end of the pool. After what seemed like only 1 or 2 casts (he later corrected me that it was more like 20 or 30 and that I spend more time out of the water than in), I heard “FISH ON” and looked up to see Eric’s rod bent over. He hooked into a lively steelhead that had a few good leaps and runs before eventually being landed. I barely managed to get the fish into my net, which is fine for trout, but less than ideal for steelhead.

Steelhead landed by Eric – a promising start to the evening!

It was relieving to have hooked into (and landed) a fish so soon, as it removed a lot of the guesswork about whether or not fish were actually in this section of river. In my head, if we caught no more fish that night, we’d both leave happy knowing that Eric landed a steelhead in a new river and I found a nice pool close to home to return to.

As it turned out, with limited time remaining, that was the first and last steelhead we landed. I did manage to hook into one nice fish, which promptly snapped my 9 lb tippet as he smashed my streamer on the swing. It was an enormous take and a hard lesson learned. I might get away with such sloppy swings fishing for trout, but the amount of stress a steelhead puts on your line means you better have your rod positioned correctly during a swing to absorb the take and your drag better be set appropriately – mine was not. I had one other hit before the evening ended, but did not get a hook set.

All in all, this spring was a pretty positive intro to steelhead for me. The mystery behind it all seems to be slowly unravelling and I’m definitely more positive about it than I have been in the past. This was probably the last time I’ll be out for them this spring (back to my staple of resident browns and brookies), but I feel confident enough to want to be back on the river for more when they return in the fall.

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