The Kid and the One that got Away

Had a guided trip on Saturday. It was a father and son team that wanted a stream orientation; see some water other than the Gorge. My plan was simple, show some different water types, that had easy access and good fishing. I have been on the water all week so I knew what was happening and where…We met at the shop, Shannons Fly & Tackle, in the early morning and planned our day... Unfortunately when we showed up at the first spot, it was already occupied. So I started them High Sticking some nearby pocket water. The morning started out pretty slow and I was already planning our next move when I positioned them to fish a popular water fall ...The father hooked into a fish and Pat and I ran to net the fish but the fish was gone by the time we arrived..So I positioned the boy on the far side and told him to cast upstream into the base of the fall..First cast and he was hooked up into a large fish..I saw the initial flashes and new he was a brute. Pat fought the fish like a seasoned fly fisherman, you would never think he was a 12 year old..He was able to keep the fish in the pool and out of the side currents which are fast water chutes, filled with downed trees, branches and 3 series of drops. We saw this fish many times and he was a LARGE BROWN between 23 and 25 inches. One of the largest Browns I ever seen in this river. After about 5 minutes we thought the fish was ready to come to the net, when the fish made one last fast run into the chute, over downed branches and broke off...We were all broken hearted, as were the small audience of fisherman and a biker that stopped to watch the fight...Pat held up his hand and said I am shaking...I showed him my hand and said So am I...I told him he did a great job and that it is very difficult to land a fish that big especially where we were fishing...He than told me that if we would have caught him, he would have released the fish anyway...You got love it!!

Late in the morning we finally ran into a pod of fish that were cooperating and we ended the day landing a handful of rainbows and a wild brown on dry flies...Pat asked me if I thought the big fish was stocked, I said it almost was certainly a stocked fish. He said that catching and releasing a wild fish on a dry fly, is much more exciting than a stocked fish...I nodded but was still shaking when I thought about the one that got away...

With kids like Pat, our sport has a great future...His quote of the day " This beats playing video games any day.."

Brookies, Browns & Bats ..OH MY..

My wife was finalizing a Masters project so I knew my fishing opportunities were limited this weekend but I did manage to sneak
away on Saturday afternoon for two hours during the mid-day..It was a
beautiful sunny day, the kind of day we all dream about during the
greys of winter..I chose a section of the South Branch that has a high
population of wild fish, they are small but they readily take dry flies
once the season kicks into gear..Therewasnt any bug or surface activity so I was prospecting with a Hendrickson Comparadun..It didnt take long to find some fish. The little brookies were quick and I missed my first few strikes..Got my timing down and landed my first of the day..A colorful 6 inch brookie, typical for this section..I ran into a fe more pods of fish including some Browns, the largest
being about 12 inches..I landed about a dozen fish before I looked at
my watch and knew the boys were getting over their nap and needed to
help out the wife...I closed my eyes, took in a deep breathe, with the
sun on my face just stood there for a minute taking in the sounds and
smells of the river..I made one more cast, and landed one more small
wild brown..What a day...

Sunday was a different story, it was overcast and breezy...But it didnt
matter, I spent the day with the boys, playing like a 2yr old...It was
a long day and they passed out by 6:30 that evening..I looked at my
wife, and she said, you could probably get in an hour of fishing if you
leave now..I love that woman..

I fished another stretch that is known to harbor plenty of wild fish including some brutes...There were caddis
coming off when I reached the river and it took me a good 20 minutes to
find some rising fish..But I found a pod of fish and managed to land a
half dozen wild browns from 5 to 12 inches..They were readily taking my
size 16 Olive...Caught one fish that thought he was a rainbow, he
leaped at least 4 times before I brought him to net...about 8:00 I saw
my first bat, notunusual on a trout stream, but within 5 minutes I had
a full blown bat hatch on my small pool..I have never seen anything
like it, there were at least 50 bats swarming over the pool..When I
would cast, a half dozen would swoop on the fly. They were flying all
around me and it got to be too much...Exit Stage Right..

The Bow, The Browns and the Spoiler...

Every evening I face an hour long, mind numbing commute home. This past Wed, I bolted out of work at 5pm and was on the water by 6:30...The South Branch was stocked by the state the day before so most of the pools around my home stretch were occupied. I surprisingly found a piece of popular water that didn't have someone standing in the middle of it. Perfect. Now I was already in my waders, and only had to put on my vest, tie on a fly and enter the water...By the time I had on my vest, two cars pulled in behind me. I gave them the "Are you kidding me look" but it didn't help...They were plopping power bait in the middle of the main drop pool...I ignored them and focused on nymphing the head riff..Tricked a rainbow with a caddis pupa...The Berkley Boys didn't have a bite within 5 minutes, so they moved on to greener pastures (or a pool with tracks left from the stocking truck)...
After a long day at work, I really wanted to decompress. What a better way than to watch a dry fly float on the clear waters of the SBR..So I tied on a comparadun and enjoyed watching my imitation float thru the pockets and pool...I worked my way around the bend and came to a fast riff, that was exploding with Quill Gordon Spinners. The bugs were loaded with an orange egg sack..I left on my Hendrickson Comparadun and fished it into the riff and immediately was into fish..The fishing was fast and the spinner fall was thick..I love fish that cooperate and eat my drys...I worked my way to the pool and was hoping to see some larger fish and sure enough he was on the far side rising just above a large rock. I waded in position and laid the fly about 4 feet above the fish..Perfect..The fly was drifting to my fish, and had closed the distance to 2 feet when along came the spoiler...The little redbellie grabbed my fly and made 2 acrobatic leaps basically shutting down my chances at Mr. Brown....The spinner fall stopped and the river faded to black.....




South Branch Bow



The Spoiler

Hendricksons..

Fished for a few hours this afternoon on the South Branch..There were both Quill Gordons and Hendricksons on the water..I started nymphing but one rise was all I needed to convince me to tie on a dry fly, light brown comparadun. The stretch I was fishing is choked on both sides with briars, so I was wading the middle of the river and casting upstream..The rises were very sporatic but I managed to pick up a 4 wild brookies and a 10 inch wild brown before I saw a nice riser at the head of a deep bend pool..I stalked in position but as usual there was no room for a back cast and there was an overhanging branch over my fish..Using sidearm casts, I managed to lay a perfect cast under the branch and my fly drifted perfectly into the trouts lane and was immediately inhaled...I knew it was a large fish instantly, he shot upsteam and down stream and after a 5 minute fight, I brought him to hand..Unfortunately I didnt have my net so landing him was tricky..And taking pictures was even more difficult, with no bank or net...He was a beautiful 18 in Brown..Snapped a few pics and released him back to his lie....A Wonderful Day on the Water..and My first on the dry fly for the season..

The South Branch of The Raritan River...

A Ephemerella subvaria or Hendrickson (Missing a tail)

A South Branch Brown