WNY Fly fishing/camping trip part 3

Sunday morning I awoke to a very loud ring tone coming from my phone. And it was a good thing it was loud too, as I probably would have slept through it if it wasn't! As hard as it was wake up, it was even harder to get breakfast going and clean up the site. I was eager to get out on the stream again, especially after a great evening hatch.

Bob joined me a few minutes later, and we got busy brewing coffee and cleaning up. It took a while for the rest of the camp to surface, but in the end, we all got our act together, finished breakfast, and got back out on the stream.

We all met one last time at a pull off for our favorite inland trout stream. And for some reason it seemed to take a little longer to get my gear on this morning. Maybe I was tired, or maybe I was just busy thinking of how great the weekend had played out. Either way - It seemed to take forever to get back into the stream.

Jonathan and I took the trail down, talking about the moth from the night before and the possibility of his first trout on the fly rod(caught solo.) We made it to our spot and began fishing. After some adjustments, we hooked up with our first trout. A good start! We were soon joined by Jessie, his brother Casey and brother in-law Nick. They took up positions just below us and began searching the run with nymphs. But over the next hour we only managed one fish....a sucker! Bob however, who was fishing a dry fly below all of us, managed to get into a nice trout.

We realized at this point that our morning would be tough, and that the trout were not keyed in on anything yet. So we all moved around a bit, trying new flies, casting to a few rising trout, and enjoying our last bit of freedom.

Jessie finally moved his crew down to a different section and was starting to get into some fish. He was able to land a few himself before guiding his brother in-law Nick into his first ever trout on a fly! Meanwhile Bob manged a few trout from above. One of which looked to be rather large, but as I was moving up to help with the landing, the fish broke him off on a submerged log.

At this point Jonathan and I realized that our morning was nearing its end, we said our goodbyes and started to head back. But before we took the trail back to the car, we hit up one last spot below an old bridge. At first we both tried dry flies. But when we realized that we couldn't raise a fish, I tied on a streamer for a last ditch effort at getting one last fish. And just as I was fishing the last little bit of the tailout, a large flash of yellow and brown grabbed the fly. It was a good sized fish that pulled hard enough to rip line of the reel that was attached to my 6 weight. But as soon as the battle began....it was over with a quick head shake.

Luke and Andy, who had spent the morning fishing at a lower section of the stream, finally decided to move to a nearby spring creek. As it turned out, their morning seemed to be scripted in much the same way as ours - Lot's of effort, with just a few fish to show for it! So they moved on leaving us to fend for ourselves. I did get a phone call from Luke a few hours later saying that he and Andy finally got into fish, and that they both did very well at the new spot. But by that time, I was busy at home cleaning up the car, and day dreaming about our great trip!

That is how my weekend ended, saying good bye to both good friends(new and old) and trout. And it would not have been as good as it was, if it were not for the guys who came on the trip. Everyone brought something different, and contributed in their own way....which is how it should be. I feel very blessed to be able to call them friends, and really they are more than that....they are family!

I do, however, need to give a special thanks to both Lucas Carroll and Bob Burrows, who's hard work and dedication to making our weekend a success, is never ending!

For more photos look here!

See you on the stream!

Posted June 1st, 2010 at 10:33 AM by Brian Bradfield