Water Watching.

Today I managed to go sit by the side of the Grand for a few hours today. The flow rate had been raised to over double its normal flow rate, so I wasn't to surprised by the lack of rising fishes. The number of Hendricksons that came off was far less than a couple of nights earlier. The only fish we saw move on them were the recent additions to the river by way of the FOGR. Cranes and Caddis were more abundant today, and I may have spotted a fox or two, but couldn't get one in my mitts to get a good visual. Really wish they would stop screwing with the flow rates.

From the sidelines..........................

So, a look at the Grand today revealed a much different scenario than my last outing. More bugs. Numbers and variety.

I didn't fish. I watched. My back is f@#k'd and I couldn't muster the effort. Watched Mom fish for the most part.

Surface activity was limited to a short period in the later afternoon when the Hendriksons came of thickest. My mother managed a fish in the higher teens, her biggest fish to date, and later busted of a quality fish that would have dwarfed her new record.

Before the Hendriksons showed up en masse, both Crane flies and Tan Caddis could be spotted. The fish only concerned themselves with the Hendricksons though. Would have like to have seen the spinner fall, but patience is hardly my long suit when my back is screaming torture.

Would love to be out every day of the week. Not feasible though. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in some time before the weekend.....................not gonna hold my breath though. 

Grand River.

You'll want to check the flow rates before you head out this weekend. It was at 55(!!!!) around 4pm today. I hear they may keep it up over the weekend. Make sure to check before you head up for sure.

GRCA Flow Summary


It was running around 18 when these pics were taken.

Grand River Hatch Chart.

Yeah, so I'm starting to work on a hatch chart for the Grand. If anyone has any corrections, or additions, such as Grasshoppers which I see I missed, or hook sizes like on the Isopod's and Ant's ), lemme know via email and I'll try to incorporate the changes a.s.a.p. So, buyer beware. I don't see any horrible inaccuracies, but there's bound to be something somewhere at this point. Thanks! :)

First outing of the season.

So, today was the first time I could get out this season.........bad back, yadda yadda. The weather forecast looked decent enough, so I figured I'd give it a go. Apparently, I had spent the first month of last year fishing crappie, and as a result had to do some quick ties to prepare.

Figured to hope for some Hendrikson action, but was a little fearful the water might still be to cold. When I first go t to the river, this seemed to be the case. There was a lot of Hendriksons coming off the water, but no fish were moving on them. Oh well. Eventually two fish started to make sporadic attempts at surface fair, and I managed a decent enough fish after a dozen casts or so on a Hendrikson Dun. After a couple of hours of watching water devoid of action, we decided to split.

As we started home, we happened by a stretch were fish were moving in steady rythyms on the duns blanketing the surface. I had already removed my waders, but figured I'd brave the slightly less then optimal water temperatures for a few casts. This was probably a good move.

So, I waded into the frigid waters, questioning my sanity, and started to work on a fish. I shortly hooked into what turned out to be another decent fish.

...........................and back it goes.

Alright! So at least there was a point to freezing off my balls! I probably could have been content with the days efforts at this point................but.............there was still some risers. I picked off a fish that was in the 13" inch or so range. Cool. I was done. A few fish were enough to make a decent day of it. I pulled my chilled ass out of the water and started to make my to the car. As I was doing this, I spotted another fish rising, and figured to make a couple of casts on the way by. Again, probably another good decision. The  fish sucked up my Dun on the first drift. Set the hook, and realized I had hooked into a very decent fish.

I had a problem with this fish, in that I had an obstruction immediately below, and I could not let the fish run that way or it was game over. I was using 5X, so I could put a decent enough pressure to keep it somewhat controlled with finesse. The reality of  situation though, was I was apt to bust of the fish at anytime. 

Stopping a good fish that wants to run is not how I generally want to handle things. A number of times during the 5 or so minute scrap I knew I was on the verge of hearing my tippet snap. However, I learned a long time ago, you can't be afraid of losing a big fish and you have to fight it as hard as possible. 

The 'knee squeeze' in the pic is not from the strain of fighting the fish.........I've got me net clamped in there. ;) The pic is snapped while I am putting the breaks on the fish. My reel hand is clamped on the reel and I'm playing a very tenuous game of give and take in an effort to keep the fish out of obstruction. Again, not the preferred way of handling a good fish.

.........incoming.

God was smiling on me today though, and I eventually got the rather irritated fish to net.

The fish was released so fresh that it broke my hold as soon as I started to revive it, swimming back to the depths from whence it came.

All in all, a pretty good few hours to start the season. Was also fortunate enough to have someone with a camera to capture some shots. This is almost never the case.

All the fish were caught on a #12 Hendrickson Parachute Dun cast with 3wt using 5x tippet.

Credit River Hatch Chart.

Just reposting the hatch chart for the Credit. Never a bad thing to have handy for those new to the watershed.

The Wall

So, another season is upon us. A good thing. Time to get my gear together, flies tied, lines cleaned...........etc. I never bother to do those chores off season. Never have any guarantees to see the opener and wouldn't want  to waste the time on a doomed endeavor. However, I keep seeming to survive till the next time. Maybe I'll learn for the next time, though likely not.

I find myself once again hastily getting my gear in order. Fortunately, one thing I have learned is to keep my rigs and tackle in a rather constant state of readiness. Regardless of the day, time of year. what have you, I take a certain pride in being able to head out the door on a moments notice with relatively little worries of missing a necessary or needed accouterments. Most of my pre-season prep is more along the lines of cleaning lines, replacing leaders, and tying up a couple of flies I'm short of. Even that has me hitting the "wall".

The Wall. All I really need to do is think of fishing and I hit it. Head on at full speed. I'll start looking towards a task, whether it be tying flies, cleaning gear, heading to the water, and it will all come to a grinding halt at the wall. My brain shuts down. Its smarter than I am. It knows that proceeding forward is just going to be plain painful. Thats my head. My heart, well, thats always on the water, swimming with the fishes. My heart would have me out the door, on the water, and never coming back. My head knows better. It knows that by the time I get there, and put on my waders, I'm going to be hurting. By the time I finish? Sheer fricking agony. Let me tell you, bad backs are no fun.

So, I'm at the wall. Smart money would say not to bother. Just not worth the price in pain. However, I've never been known to be to smart. I'm sure, that once again, I'll get over the wall. Fall down, pick myself up, note the bruises, and worry about  the next wall when I come to it. Then rinse and repeat.






On another note, I copy and pasted an article on stream etiquette on Hipwader.com a few years back. It generally gets bumped up on the forums around this time, and is always a good read.
Fly Fishing Etiquette

**Pictured is a #12 Hen Wing Rusty Spinner.