Out of the Loop

When you leave for college everything you once knew goes out the window…friends change, new experiences arise and the big step occurs. Things are different then what you had before and but sometimes change is good. I have been out of the loop for a bit now, priorities changed and things have been much different.  One thing I do have is the tug waiting for me when I return home. I have only gotten out fishing twice this season so far. I will not likely get out until after May 15th when my classes end. Fly Tying and Fly Fishing have been put on the back burner for now, as much as I wish I was out flogging the waters of Nova Scotia or sitting at the vise I know it will be there when I return.

When you are out of the loop, it makes it so much better to go back and get out. Not fishing is something I've never experienced before, as I was always the first guy out April 1st but when I do get out fishing it is much more enjoyable and lets you appreciate what we have much more. 

I cannot wait to get back on the streams that flow through our rugged land, come tight on some beautiful gems that we have to appreciate and realize how good we have it, and should strive to protect it.

Tight Lines and Good Vibes!

Christopher

A good day but a cold one at that.

Well, its been a long winter and it may not be over yet. The snow is still around and the lakes were still very much full of ice. The night before I made it back to Stillwater after a long day on the road from Charlottetown. I then set all my gear out; waders, flies, rods and packs with Snowshoes waiting at the door… I woke early, about 7 am and ate breakfast, got dressed, put my pack on as well as my snowshoes and off I went over the hill and up the old logging road.

The walk was about 2km from home to the stream but It made it easier hoping that it would be unfrozen. I had reached the old road that crossed the stream and found the deadwater stream to be free of ice and looking quite good. I then put together my rod, tied a leader and tippet and attached the fly.. A Black Ghost Zonker was my first choice as it usually produces well. No tugs, no nothing.

Tried a few other flies and decided to change my location. Now, Im not sure it was a good idea leaving my snowshoes at my first location because in areas the snow was up to my thighs, but i trekked on.. Eventually finding some nice water, a few natural dams,as well as some big pine (dead and alive). I noticed on one Pine that was still living that it had many holes liked from a Pileated woodpecker. Also, a few Mainland Moose tracks were seen as well near that location.

As I fished on I reached the final "pool" before the stream turned quick as it ran from the lake,  it was a nice pool almost perfectly circular. This was the most promising looking spot I had found today, but no tugs or any movement. I decided to walk the stream to the lake, as I've always wanted to see what it looked like. I walked up and found the outflow was very scraggy, the stream ran through the standing woods and had no opportunity for fishing. But I decided to fish the outflow although the amount of open water was less than adequate.

 I then packed up my fly rod, reel, pack and decided it was time to head back to my little "base camp" where I had left my snowshoes in the snow poking up like little signs. This time I returned on the other side of the stream which now that I look back was a mistake. The snow was even deeper on this side and was not as compacted so I had sunk very deep into the snow and almost had gotten stuck. I made it back to my snowshoes and had a drink of the water I had brought with me as well as a granola bar for the way back.

As I walked out the old road and onto the logging road I thought of the stories about huge fish that were caught in and around those waters, I thought about how beautiful that area would be in late May or Early June… The blackflies, Mosquitos and Deer flies would be treacherous I thought, but I knew that it would likely be worth it. I made it home just as Mom was serving the Lasagna dinner, had a great dinner to complete a beautiful day at home.. Today was a great day, and I cannot wait to have many more like this one.

Chris

The walk and the reward... Part two

As Hatcher and I reach the top of the falls, we continue along the rough dark water and break into an open stillwater. A few fish are rising and we intend on spending more time on the upper stillwaters. But we take a few casts and catch a few trout around 10 or 11 inches. As I remember these fish were quite picky, one was extremely fat and quite dark in colour.

We then moved 130m upstream to the next stillwater which was a "p" shaped piece of water that was really only fishable from the inflow location. So we bushwhacked through the fir and spruce until we found ourselves at the inflow. On the left side of the inflow there was a long fallen tree that had a very deep hole under it. I tied on my #4 Mylar Minnow and took a cast, first swing a nice trout came up and grabbed it and I set the hook. It was a beautiful trout and as I took the hook out he swam away from my net and back into the run.

While Hatcher was fiddling with his gear I took another cast and hooked another trout, a bit bigger than what we caught to this point that day. It was a beautiful 12 1/2 inch gem as I netted him, I looked at Hatcher with a grin as I released the fish back into the tea stained stillwater. I then stepped away and Hatcher fished the whole inflow thoroughly and caught four or five trout on a #14 Blue Dun. Hatcher knew the mayfly was going to work as there was fly on the water today, but he didn't expect my streamer to do as well as it did. Before we left to move to the next stillwater, I took another cast under the dead tree and had a hard take, with no splash like the other fish took. He dogged down and as he came up I knew it was a good fish with a deep red belly, I got too excited and tried to horse him a bit. As he did the "brook trout roll" the hook popped out and he swam away...

We both laughed and enjoyed what had just happened but it was time to move upstream to the next stillwater. The next stillwater was about 200m upstream. It was very shallow on the lower end and very marshy along the edges, the barrens were to the left and a side hill to the right. We each caught a few fish on the way up to the inflow, I stayed on the side of the stillwater and Hatcher moved to the inflow. He caught a few brook trout there and I did really well on streamers casting into what I assumed was the bowl of the stillwater and retrieving back onto the flat. I hooked a few fish in the bowl, but most fish were boiling for mayfly right on the edge. We caught quite a few fish at that stillwater and were pleased with the beautiful colours, scenery and enjoyed each others company to explore this beautiful area.

The next stillwater was quite shallow and rocky, huge granite outcrops were visible protruding from the dark water. It was also quite long and with one big hole at the inflow that is where we fished. This was not a very productive stillwater. We both caught one fish at the inflow hole and moved on to the next stillwater which was not far. This stillwater was the closest to the lake and after this the stream had a very high gradient to the lake. As we got to the pool, fish were on the mayfly hard right at the inflow and into the back end of the stillwater. This water was very productive, catching about 8 fish each in this area. I did well on my mylar minnow downstream but I had put it away and tied on my hot head bugger as Hatcher continued to catch fish with his Blue Dun in size 14. I did really well on the hot head, but changed to a #6 wardens worry. Which I caught a few more fish on, all these fish had deep red bellies, I assume full of insects. Hatcher no doubt hit the hatch perfectly today, but I did really well on my streamer flies also...

It was late in the day and we decided to head back and fish the stillwaters on the way back. We were catching fish through all the stillwaters until we go to the second. We knew there was an old cut trail that snaked through the fir and onto an old log road system, than had quite a few jig roads off the sides. We used my iPhone's GPS to navigate the old road system and found we were only one km walk from the truck and an easy walk. As we walked back we talked about what good fishing we had that day and that we were going to do this again, stream y had treated us well that day....


We undressed from our waders, and drove back to the camp to tell our friends how well we did, turns out everyone else did quite well also. We learned our friend the "butt-slinger" had hooked two 13+ inch trout on a muddler minnow, catching the biggest fish that weekend. It was a great weekend as friends got together and did what the enjoy doing the most, telling fish stories and fishing. I cannot wait until next year to spend another weekend with a great group of friends who have a passion about trout and fly fishing like I do...

The walk and the reward... Part One

A story from May 2014 of two friends, who walk into the wilderness and are rewarded with some gems and left with memories.

As the sun rises between the clouds, the sleepy fisherman crawl from their sleeping bags and throw a plan together for a day of fishing. It was a warm and muggy mid-May day, the opposite from last year, when this weekend the snow was falling from the sky.. Friends armed with fly rods got in their vehicles and drove to their planned location, each looking to find the biggest fish. I was with my friend "Hatcher", a skilled fly fisherman who had fished in Alberta, New York's Catskills and Newfoundland. We had been to this place before as a group, but it was quite early in the spring and the weather was not exactly perfect. This time we accessed this location from a road that was took us within 1 km from where we wanted to go, but we didn't take the easy way... We decided to walk the rocky and heavily wooded riparian zone of stream y... We caught a few small brook trout in the pocket water on dry flies on the way to the stillwaters. We knew of the set of falls on this stream, so we continued upstream and found what we were looking for... It was beautiful, as the cool mist from the falls washed over us, I thought to myself, this was wilderness.

April 2013 Falls on stream y, with Hatcher to the left.

 Just as we were about to start fishing, something rolled off to the left side of the falls of a steep bank of moss and tiny black spruce. It was a beaver, obviously confused to what just happened it swam around the pool many times trying to find a way back up.... We decided to start fishing, I was fishing a small streamer fly, and "Hatcher" was fishing a dry. We both hooked a few fish in the dark, foamy waters beneath the falls, and as I was retrieving a smaller  brook trout and the fish started swimming around very erratically. As I peered into the water and kept with my retrieve I saw a brook trout about 12 inches attacking my smaller trout. This was odd to me I've never experienced this before,  I got the smaller fish in and looked at Hatcher with a smile and released the small dark backed and red coloured gem.

 I yelled at Hatcher over the roar of the falls that I was tying on a larger streamer to try and land a bigger fish. He was fishing a foamy eddy where he had hooked a few fish and one with some size. I toss in a #2 Slumbuster and immediately had a fish take, it was an odd take, not aggressive like the earlier takes it was a grab and hold take. I missed the fish, I take another cast and hook a brookie about 12 inches, no doubt the one that was attacking my smaller fish earlier. These fish were dark, but a deep red colour on the belly an odd colouration for May as these fish were not spawning. I continued on to catch a few fish around 11 inches which was an average for this pool, all with deep red bellies and a few fish with jaw shaped bite marks under the body near the anal fin. A clear indicator that what I experienced earlier was not uncommon for those fish. It was still early in the day and we decided to make our way up to the stillwaters we came to fish, little did we know what was in store for us...... 

To Be Continued...

Tea stained water and speckled beauties...

In many rural Nova Scotia streams and lakes on the Southern and Eastern shores run with dark, tea stained water. Though the water is acidic they hold many brook trout, known locally as speckled trout. In Nova Scotia, many wild brook trout populations are diminished due to low pH levels , high water temperatures and in some areas invasive species such as smallmouth bass, brown trout, rainbow trout and chain pickerel. 

But all is not lost, brook trout still thrive in many systems and are readily available to angled by flies, lures or bait. My preferred way to catch these speckled beauties are with flies... hooks dressed with feathers, furs, tinsel, wires, floss, yarns, even metal beads, rubber legs and other synthetic materials. Brook trout can also be found in non-tea stained water. Although my passion is to capture brook trout in tea colored backwoods streams, running from lakes or ponds located in sphagnum filled barrens or bogs. Many lakes and streams in these areas are also laden with granite outcrops. The brook trout caught in these conditions usually posses colorful "speckles" and a dark background coloration due to the color of water and insects eaten by these fish.

Keep in mind, many anglers prefer to release their catches not harvest them. I usually practice catch and release but if spending a few days in the bush I will harvest enough to keep me going for the rest of my stay in the wilderness.. Brook trout have many factors working against them, please consider catch and release. If done correctly it can be very effective in the survival of the released fish, though water temperatures and other factors can determine the survival of the specimen.

Keep your line tight and your creel full,I mean empty