WNY Camping/fly fishing trip part 2
Bob searches for trout in the morning light - photo by Lucas Carroll
Here I hold Luke's first brown of the day - photo by Lucas Carroll
The Saturday morning crew (from left to right - Bob, Dan, Jessie, Me & Lucas) - photo by Lucas Carroll
Jessie fishing below the dam
Pike caught below the dam - photo by Lucas Carroll
After a disappointing Friday evening, Bob, Luke, and I got up early Saturday morning eager to get into some fish. We ate a quick breakfast and made our way to a lower section of the stream where we would meet up with Dan and Jessie. The plan was to fish this section of stream until lunch and then hit another section of stream, or head to a nearby spring creek for the afternoon.
We arrived a little late and quickly got our gear together. As we rushed around, Dan pulled up wondering where we had been. He had arrived to an empty parking lot and had been searching around for us. This was not a good start! But that would soon end, as Dan hooked and landed the first trout of the morning within minutes of our making our way into the stream. Feeling good, we all found our own piece of water and began our search for more trout. With no bugs on the water, we stayed with nymphs. But as minutes turned into that first hour, Dan's trout was the only one landed. I left Dan and Bob to find more productive water, and also Luke, who had gone missing since the first part of the morning. I eventually found him working his way downstream to my position after a long fishless streak of his own. We met up and talked a little strategy, and as we talked, he stripped streamers. Luke managed to entice a very nice brown from an undercut bank. Finally a second fish! Maybe now that the sun was working its way above the trees, our situation would improve. And it did! Next we hit up a great looking run that was deep and fast, a run that required a great deal of weight to get our flies down. We each tied on new patterns and worked it hard. After a few passes through, Luke set up on what appeared to be a very nice fish. And after a few moments, I put the net under a girthy 16" brown, the biggest trout of the trip.
The next couple of hours we all caught fish. Some were caught on gold bead head nymphs fished deep in the run. The others were caught by Bob and Jessie who had found some rising trout that were willing to take a dry.
We took a break for lunch, and made plans for the next half of the day. We all decided that we needed a change of scenery, and that a new location might provide us with that little bit variety we were looking for. Plus I wanted to show the guys a spot that I knew had a few pike. Our next spot on the tour was a location upstream from our morning start. There is also a check dam here that provided some of the warm water fishing opportunities that I was looking forward too. And as soon as we made our way down to the dam, I spotted a few large pike cruising around. We spent the next couple of hour or so exploring the water around and below the dam. We managed a few pike and rock bass from the water just below the dam - along with a giant crawfish that is probably the biggest one I have ever seen! Bob and Luke managed a few trout from some of the downstream sections, after I left to go pick up my oldest son to come and join us for the rest of the weekend.
Our next, and final destination for the day, was at an inland spring creek. It is here that the fishing has its own schedule apart from any other stream. It is not prone to high water, temperature variations or other drastic changes that may affect other inland trout streams throughout the year. Therefore the trout are somewhat predictable - not easy! but predictable.
We all found our own little spots and made the most out of the last remaining hours of the day. I was able to land 5 or 6 small trout that included my first brook trout in the first hour. Bob landed a fish under the bridge, and Luke was working a fish that was below him just past the bridge. And I began to wonder - "why didn't we come here in the first place?" But if we did that, the day would have played out differently than it did, and I wasn't done just yet!
Jonathan and I moved downstream, and watched as Luke carefully worked a dry fly to some fish that were taking what appeared to be, sulpher emergers. It was fun to watch! And even better, to be a part of the process, as I was able to put a net under a very nice fish that Luke finally fooled.
The sun was now getting low, and as Jonathan and I made our way into a new spot, I could see sulphers starting to pop off the water. Brown trout were rising freely in the riffle sections, taking bugs with no fear. From this point on, I had the best dry fly action I have had this year to date! In fact it was so good, that when I saw one of the better fish come and take a natural off the water; I could get that fish to take my dry within two or three casts. It was awesome!! This went on for a while before Andy, Jessie and his brother and brother in-law finally made it up to my location, and got into the action before it was all over. Finally a good hatch to end a good day of fishing!
We walked back to our cars in darkness - which by the way is the only walk worth taking after what we just experienced - and got our gear packed up for the night.
The rest of the evening was filled with stories, food, jokes, more food, and finally sleep.
Oh….and a giant silk moth invaded our festivities too! At first I thought it was a bird or a bat, as it had a good 4 to 5 inch wing span. But upon closer examination it was a moth, a very large moth!
Make sure to check out more photos here - Lucas Carroll's flickr page and blog page
