Troutnut.com Fly Fishing for Trout Home
User Password
or register.
Scientific name search:

> > Cold Water Dry Fly; It's Spring after all.



Post Reply
PaulRobertsApril 6th, 2011, 8:33 pm
Colorado

Posts: 1776		April 6, 2011

A little fishing while my son takes his voice/piano lesson. I could just hear the wavering high notes of his rendition of “Where is Love” emanating from the streamside cabin as I took the path down to the little creek below.

Overcast, snow due in tonight; An icing fog on mountains above, very light misty rain/heavy mist below. Tricaudatus weather! A little late in the afternoon I suppose, but the hours-old memory of those little duns should be enough to interest some trout.

It’s a fast turbulent stretch of pocket water here, not the place I’d choose if I were just fishing. But begger's, and dedicated Dad's, can't be choosers. I spotted a trout right away in the eddy of a cut, up off bottom in active position. “Looks like a spring trout to me”, I thought. “Water’s gotta be cold though.” Id’ve guessed 45 by season and conditions in this stretch (being as out-of-touch as I currently am), but upon seeing that active trout I thought, “Maybe upper 40s?” “Can’t be 50…” -especially with the frost on the trees on the mountains above and the very last remnants of snow in the canyon shadows.

I took a water temperature: 38F! I had a #18 tricaudatus Comparadun tied on. Guess I’m a tad early this year, this far up anyway. Was only playing, killing three-quarters of an hour, so I decided to fish the dry, just to fish a dry after a long winter of tying them. I plied the first cut finding only one decent laminar slick to work, and an entire trout head rose to meet my dun! Pop! And I wrestled in a pretty copper backed, red sided, amber flanked ‘bow. “You are ready to rock I see,” I said out loud as I dug the hook from deep along the inside of its lower jaw; a long snouted male somewhere in the 10inch class; A good average mature trout for this section of this stream.

The next cut yielded a trout nose –a half attempt, or refusal, I couldn’t tell. It wouldn’t come again. A refusal, I thought. “It’s really midges you were expecting, eh?” Two midge varieties were in the air: a #42 WC (“Who Cares”), and a #24 LGB (“Little Gray Bastard”) now dipping to deposit eggs.

The next cut was the one I’d seen the active trout in, and I now knew why: That it was indeed spring, despite the “winter” water temps. I’d marked the rectangular rock below the VW-sized boulder the trout had been holding beside. With the 7ft rod I was using I had to creep all the way to the tail lip, closer than I could have got away with had the sun been higher, and the sky brighter, and I sat on a partially submerged boulder. It was late afternoon, under a deep overcast, in a deep canyon, and the trout rose about 8ft from my rod tip. But it had moved from my mark, into a dead calm pocket about the size of a basketball hoop, surrounded by boiling, seething, dense/viscous, line gobbling turbulence. And I could not get a drift there. I dared not get closer. So, I waited and watched it rise aggressively (for such cold water) pushing the syrup-like water and making a good “smock!” with each rise. Then the pocket was quiet. I pitched back to the rectangular rock and she was there –another 10+inches of copper, red, and amber. I got back to the cabin just in time to hear my son's final refrain, “Where-ere-ere-ere-ere iiissssss llllooooovvvvvvve!”

So there it is. It’s spring! So say the trout –at least the ‘bows in this stretch. I kinda doubt the browns would have been as willing, and I didn’t see any despite the fact that they tend to outnumber the bows in this stream –at least in the warmer months. Mebbe it was the faster turbulent water in this stretch, keeping the browns at bay. But, 38F is mighty cold for dry fly fishing for any species. Everyone is hopeful in April apparently.
PaulRobertsApril 7th, 2011, 2:19 pm
Colorado

Posts: 1776		Posted in the wrong forum. Can't see how to delete it.

Ah, can't delete the OP I see.
Shawnny3April 7th, 2011, 5:53 pm
Moderator
Pleasant Gap, PA

Posts: 1197		Nice story, Paul, and well told - gets you in the mood for spring.

Sometimes Jason moves or deletes threads that appear in the wrong place. No big deal if he doesn't catch this one, though.

-Shawn
Jewelry-Quality Artistic Salmon Flies, by Shawn Davis
www.davisflydesigns.com
MartinlfApril 9th, 2011, 1:08 pm
Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3233		Paul, I used to fish while my daughters took art lessons. The stream, where our own Gonzo learned to fish for trout, was about 15 minutes away, and I must admit I was a little late to pick them up once or twice. Great story.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
PaulRobertsApril 10th, 2011, 12:08 pm
Colorado

Posts: 1776		Ah...I can't be late; His piano teacher has an "evil eye" not to be fooled with. Otherwise I've driven down the road a piece to the much nicer stretches we pass on the way.
PaulRobertsMarch 6th, 2016, 7:44 am
Colorado

Posts: 1776		Thought I'd pull this one up, since it's timely. Seeing that Louis's fish weren't "up" yet -"no bugs, no fish." And because I'm not FF currently having "other fish to fry" lately.

But I've taken water temps religiously over the years in my trout fishing and it's even spilled over into my fishing for warmwater species.

The 'bows in my post above were likely peri-spawners, hence their "unseasonable" activity.

Quick Reply

You have to be logged in to post on the forum. It's this easy:
Username:          Email:

Password:    Confirm Password:

I am at least 13 years old and agree to the rules.

Related Discussions

TitleRepliesLast Reply
Cold Water Dry Fly; It's Spring after all.
In Fishing Reports by PaulRoberts		0
Re: winter bow
In Fishing Reports by Benjlan		6Jan 12, 2011
by PaulRoberts
Re: ultra light sinking
In Fly Tying by Martins		5Mar 16, 2016
by Martins
Mid-winter dry fly action
In Fishing Reports by Motrout		0
Re: Finds at Craft Stores
In Fly Tying by Oldredbarn		14Dec 17, 2012
by Martinlf
Re: Current River (belated report)
In Fishing Reports by Motrout		1Sep 25, 2010
by Martinlf
Re: Western Fly fishing in Arizona Oak Creek
In General Discussion by Andrew		3Mar 18, 2009
by Andrew
Re: Donegal Spring Creek
In Fishing Reports by Wbranch		2May 8, 2011
by Wbranch
Re: Montana: Rock Creek and the Ruby River
In Fishing Reports by Martinlf		3Jul 30, 2021
by Martinlf
Re: at last i have a bug question
In the Identify This! Board by CaseyP		2Apr 5, 2012
by CaseyP