April 17th

Yesterday my buddy Ted called me up to see if I wanted to do some trout fishing.. Pfft.. What kind of question is that.. Of course!  So we headed north to the Whitewater area to do some trout fishing and hopefully catch some trout..

It was a great day.. Temps were in the low 50s when we headed out and peaked in the low 60s as the day progressed.. At first things were frustrating.. Trying to find a pattern that was gonna work.. The past couple days it's been easy.. Fish rising to Caddis.. Tie on a EHC and you were money.. Today it just seemed that it wasn't working out for me.. BWOs were popping and there were a few risers.. But I started out with a nymph tandem.. No dice.. Ted stepped up with a EHC and took one or two.. I switched up to a BWO dry as few of them were coming off and nothing.. Switched to an EHC and nothing.. Just was not going my way.. Perfect casts.. Perfect drifts.. Nothing.. Tie on a bugger.. Nothing.. Ted on the other hand was catching them here and there on nymphs.. mainly copper johns of the red variety..

As we headed up stream and the day progressed.. The caddis were coming off a little more and we both switched back to EHCs and that was where it was at the rest of the day.. Each taking our turn to step up and land a fish.. First Ted.. Then myself.. and back and forth we'd go catching one and letting the other step up to the plate to land another.. Finally things were working out for me..

As the day got later the caddis dropped off in normal fashion of the past week.. Seems like the hatches have been starting around noon-ish to 1pm.. and dropping off by ~3pm.. Overall it was a great day as always... Any day catching fish is a good day..

Back To The Stream..

So it's been awhile since I've posted.. Not much going on.. Mediocre bass... Small perch.... Small pike.. Crappy weather and sore elbow keeping me sidelined for most of the days this past week... And the upcoming week is looking pretty grim.. Possibilities of snow???  Jesus.. This state's weather drives me nuts some times..

I decided I better get out and do some fishing.. Any fishing today.. Before the inevitable comes along.. Rain... And crappy weather.. The rain is definitely needed as the stream I was at was very very low.. But this highs in the low 40s and low 20s at night should be long gone.. At least with how untypical the weather has been so far this year..

It's been awhile since I've been stream side with all the great warm water action.. So I decided I would hit up one of my favorite streams.. One that I knew would have me on at least a couple trout... And with my elbow being sore.. I figured I best leave the 9wt along for a little bit and go with something lighter.. Got stream side.. It was sunny.. Slight breeze.. Absolutely perfect day for some fishing.. It was so nice.. I didn't need nothing more than a T-shirt for a top... Left the hoodie in the car.. Rigged up and walked down stream...

As I was walking I realized I was going to have to retie immediately as a caddis hatch was brewing up.. Get to my first hole and trout rising everywhere.. I tie on a tan CDC EHC.. And within my first 3 casts had my first fish.... A couple more casts and brown brown brown... I move up a little bit and see a bunch of trout rising around this downed tree.. I keep casting to them.. Pulling one at a time.. The bigger of them sitting right up underneath the backside of the branch.. Casting and casting to him.. Each attempt a miss at him and a hook up with another.. I was determined to get this fish.... About 20 casts and a dozen trout later.. I finally land him.. Persistence pays off!  After about an hour.. I decide it's time to leave my first hole..

I continue up stream pounding browns left and right as they rise to the swam of caddis along the streams edge and around downed trees... I keep catching browns on a regular basis.. most in the 10-12" range.. all very healthy and putting up a great fight with my 4wt St. Croix Imperial... I jump a bunch of water and head to my final stretch as I have to head back within 45min because of work.. The fish are going absolutely crazy through the stretch and landing more trout than I can count easily.. Elbow is getting sore and I'm wasting more time drying my fly after each trout than I am catching them it seems.. Alarm on my phone goes of... Snooze... 9min later.. Snooze.. I can catch a couple more.. Then.. Damn.. I gotta head to work...


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CaddiShack

Another day off of work means another day of fishing.. Headed out to Trout Run as I had not made it out there yet this year... Would today prove to be a successful day of fishing?  Success would be an understatement.. today was probably one of the craziest days of trout fishing I have ever witnessed... got to my first spot around noon... step out of my car and notice that the trout are already leaping out of the water.  It's sunny.. probably in the high 60s... fished the first couple holes with little success.. water is crystal.. i'm spooking more of the trout than anything.. the rest are sitting down low.. with no interest in whats happening above the water... turn the bend and come to my next hole.. literally spent an hour here.. caddis were coming off the water... and the fish were in a feeding frenzy.. cast my elk hair up and watch the trout come up and pick off my fly.... all was done by sight the streams were so clear.. i could cast my fly right on to their nose and they took it without a second though.. i don't even remember how many fish i caught in this hole as every 3-4 i would inch up on my knees another couple feet.. soon after hitting the holes with the elk hair i got bored with the ease of picking off these guys off on top of the water.. so i switched up to a tandem with a #14 Pheasant tail.. trailed by a #10 Danger Baby... haven't tried these Danger Babys out yet.. but it seems to have this cased caddis look to it.. so i figured it would produce.. and produce it did.. as soon as i went below the water the trout got bigger.. nothing huge.. but definitely bigger.. i noticed a lot of the bigger trout sitting at the bottom.. so that was one reason for switching to nymphing... as the day progressed the caddis got thicker.. and thicker.. and thicker.. at one point it was just a sheet of caddis.. almost enough to gross me out..  4 hours and too many trout to count later i decided to head back to the car.. a car covered in caddis

     Spot #2... decided to head up to some more familiar territory and stop at Bucksnort.  There were a couple cars.. nothing too bad.. and from talking to the other anglers it was worse upstream... started out rather frustrating.. fish are jumping everywhere but refuse to hit anything i throw at them.. nymphs.. more elk hairs.. just not happening.. same followed suit for the other angler i was talking to.. just weren't interested.. maybe the amount of caddis was just too much for the fish to key in on my particular fly.. 100s of caddis... 1 fly.. odds are not on my side.. so i decided i would hike downstream a ways and work my way back up to the bridge.. put the elk hair away and tied on a #12 pheasant tail and  #12 Hot Wire Copper John(red/copper)... this tandem seemed to work it.. kept trout on my line as i worked my way back upstream.. later due to snag.. I switched to a HWCJ and Brassie... which continued to pound the fish..

    I don't think I could have asked for better fishing conditions than what I got today.. Warm.. Sunny.. Breezy.. 7 hours of non-stop caddis hatching.. a couple trout for the kitchen and too many to count beyond that..  yeah.. it was a good day

Mmm.. Caddis

Woke up late.. was busy partying it up the night before.. decided i would drive on down to one of my favorite stream sections on Rush Creek.. didn't get on the water until 1pm.. had to be at work at 5pm.. so it was definitely crunch time.. the day before i fished a section of Garvin Brook and didn't even get a hit.

Conditions:
Sunny/Breezy/Windy
Air Temp: 54F(1pm) 61F(4pm)
Water Temp: 56F(1pm) 58F(4pm)
Clarity: Crystal




The rush looks to finally be settled in and not a bit high anymore.. last week it was still a couple inches up.. i hooked up a rig of a Hot Wire Copper John and a 20 incher.. expecting trout to hit on the same flies i was throwing last time i was on Rush... walked down stream a ways before deciding to start making some casts.. While walking to where i wanted to start i spotted Grey Caddis in the bushes along the stream.. and then started noticing them everywhere.. quick to get on the rising fish i immediately switched to an #12 Elk Hair Caddis... and within a couple of casts i was hooking into the feeding frenzy fish.. as the day progressed i noticed some mayflies.. maybe Dark Hendricksons.. March Browns? and i also saw some small stoneflies flying around the area.. the trout literally had an all you can eat buffet of bugs to eat this afternoon.. i threw Elk Hairs.. Sparkle Duns and Dark Hendricksons.. all of which produced fish. Overall.. great day to get out.. and in the end.. i guess it was a good thing i woke up late.. too bad i had to go to work.. would have much preferred to forget about that place and just fish all day.