Spot And Stalk Trout

Fishing for trout can certainly be done by fishing blind, finding likely holding water and casting a good imitation of trout food into these places hoping for action.  Admittedly a lot of my time on the water is spent this way and sometimes it is your only option.  However, it is a truly rewarding experience when you are able to spot a subtly feeding fish, devise a game plan, and stalk within casting range without disturbing its feeding pattern.  Then choose the right fly, make a perfect cast, manage any tricky currents, bring the fly into the feeding zone at the right moment, and seeing it all come together at the intersection of fly and trout snout.

This spring I had plenty of occasions to practice my trout stalking skills on a local river.  It is a tail water fishery, and the flows in this river are quite low all winter and spring until they bump up sometime after the reservoir above fills in mid April.  This means that in March and early April there is a lot of skinny water, and you will often find large fish hanging in water barely deep enough to cover their backs.  These fish are relatively easy to spot and thus make for a perfect opportunity to apply the spot and stalk method to fly fishing.   I have really enjoyed testing my skills and finding out just how much fun stalking big trout can be.

Late March on this river also ushers in a highly anticipated event.  Skwalas.  An early stonefly that is welcomed with open arms as they offer a much needed break from fishing tiny midge and baetis patterns all winter.  The Skwala Stoneflies are not overly prolific but fish do often gobble up the unfortunate few adults that find themselves clumsily flailing about on the rivers surface.  There was one particular outing this spring where my intention from the beginning was to hammer the bigger bugs into likely holding water and watch the trout go nuts for the big juicy morsels.  In my over exuberance I made some critical mistakes that undoubtedly cost me a few fish that day.

After rigging up my fly rod at the truck with a trusted adult Skwala pattern, I barged down to the water and without much grace waded right into the current.  After casting into likely holding water below riffles, and around mostly submerged rocks for about 20 minutes, and coming up empty I turned to wade up river to the next run.  There about 20 feet from me just off the bank in some very shallow water I could see a good sized fish working back and forth in the trickling current.  With my mind still set on Skwalas I threw a nice cast landing a few feet out in front of the fish.  As the fly drifted overhead the big fish made a lazy start up at it then turned away at the last moment.  I made a few more casts and each one got similar results.  Finally I took a breather and just watched the fish as it fed.  It was feeding in a small channel of current that flowed between two small submerged rocks.  It was darting back and forth and at times rising nearly to the surface to intercept its food.  As I watched it I knew it was time to put away the big bugs and break out my midge box again.    As the fish continued to feed, its mouth slashing from one side to the other in the buffet line drifting by it in that soft current, I devised my game plan.  Seeing that the fish had not shied away from the Skwala pattern I had passed over it a few minutes earlier, I used one of my favorite methods of fishing small hard to see flies that are fished subsurface.  I tied about 18 inches of tippet to the bend of the hook on my bullet head Skwala pattern and tied on a #20 zebra midge as a dropper.  This would allow me to watch the larger fly to detect a strike on the smaller submerged fly without using an unnatural looking indicator that would likely spook or tip off the fish.

As the cast unfurled and landed a few feet above the slot the fish was feeding in, I watched in anticipation.  The flies drifted through the slot cleanly and as the Skwala pattern passed over the feeding fish I saw it make a quick movement and the Skwala gently dipped below the surface.  I brought up the rod tip and felt the heavy head shake of a hooked trout.  As the big brown trout blasted across the river ripping line from my reel a smile broke out on my face.  This is what it is all about.

A few moments later after releasing the 20 inch brown back into the current I took a very close look up the stream ahead of me.  There about 15 feet in front of where I had just caught this fish was another very similar fish in a similar lie slashing from side to side.  And up beyond that fish I could see the dark form of yet another fish also feeding a couple feet off the bank in the shallow water.  I was glad to see it but became quite aware that with fish stacked up like this tight to  the bank I surely had busted a couple feeding fish out of their water when I had pushed my way down to the river.  That day turned out to be one of my better ones on the river as I stalked and caught visibly feeding fish right up until dark.

If you are like me you value your time on the water fishing.  Quite a lot of energy can be built up just anticipating the moment that you arrive at the river.  The problem is our tendency to allow this energy to push us along right into the river where we begin to waive our rod madly about, without stopping to simply observe what is happening on the water.  The solution is a matter of taking the energy built up within us and dialing it back a couple notches before we arrive at our fishing spot.   Slow down and use your senses.  Too often I am in such a rush when I get to the river my main goal is just to get a fly tied on and get in the water.  While the advice we have all gotten at some point in our lives that “you can’t catch a fish without your line in the water,” is technically true, it can also cause you to miss out on a lot of fish.  Rather than rushing down to the water’s edge it is sometimes better to start by hunting rather than fishing.  Look for feeding fish, look for insects, keep your options open, and don’t solidify your game plan until you have taken some time to truly observe what is happening that day on the river.  Rivers are a changing environment and no two days will be the same.  We can’t just assume what worked for us last time we were here will work the same way again.  It is this constant challenge that keeps us coming back.

So the next time you pull up to your favorite fishing hole remember the words of baseball’s wordsmith, Yogi Bera, “you can observe a lot by just watching.”

This article by: BaseCampLegends.com

Scouting the Upper Country

With temperatures pushing the mercury into triple digits in our part of the country, it seemed a good time to head to the mountains for a cool down, but really it was an excuse to get a jump on game movement in our newly found hunting grounds (thank you Google Earth).

My brother, Todd, and I had stumbled into a large pond while elk hunting last year and noticed it was full of sign all around it – and located in an ideal spot.  We knew this was a spot where we would spend some time this year, but the plans to spend a week on a backpack hunt in the area started a few months after last year’s archery season ended. Our cousin, Cody Waldo, called me up and started to tell me about a spot he’d found on Google Earth that looked liked a prime spot for an above timberline deer hunt. He started describing it, and pretty soon I realized he was talking about the same area near the pond Todd and I had stumbled into and discussed hunting.  That started the ball rolling and this spring we decided we’d put an honest hunt into it – Cody with an out of state deer tag, and Todd and I trying our luck for deer and elk both.

Summertime, for the western bowhunter, is an ideal time to hit the mountains for scouting as the deer are on their summer patterns – the same patterns they’ll be in for the first couple weeks of archery season before they start their annual slow and steady migration out of the hills. Add in the fact that the high country is looking at conditions fit for living even in July and August, and it’s a perfect time to escape the valley’s furnace and call it ’scouting.’ I can’t pretend to know enough about elk and their patterns this time of year, but it seemed from all the elk tracks up there that elk are already in the area.

We had to race against daylight on Friday night as we had to wait on yours truly to punch out from his day job. As we hiked past the waterhole Todd and I stumbled into and continued on towards the peak new country unveiled itself at each step. The ridge leading to camp was full of knee high grass and foilage – and water was everywhere. There were several natural saddles that were nothing more than giant elk wallows waiting to happen. If I had any shame at all I’d not mention the fact that three grown men high fived over this discovery. When we topped out and laid eyes on the canyon we’d spent all summer virtually learning, it was far above and beyond our best dreams.

When we had been planning the trip, I was telling Todd over the phone I was packing my sleeping bag, but he convinced me that he was just bringing a blanket as a sleeping bag was just added weight. As we unrolled our packs at camp, Todd casually mentioned he saw the weather report for a relatively close town at the same elevation showed the temperatures dipping into the low 40s. My ears perked and I told him, “Well, looks like you and I will be freezing tonight!” Todd looked at me and chuckled, “Not me, I packed my sleeping bag after I read that!”

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well that night because I was…well, freezing. If I can have one free feeling of malice, I can take comfort in knowing Todd didn’t sleep well, either. So it was no surprise that we got up well before dawn. We went over the ridge and set up on the edge of the drainage to wait for the first streaks of light to change the color of the sky and give us a look at the country we’d been dreaming about for several months. I was thinking there would be deer all over, so was a little dissapointed when, all told, all that we saw was a forked horn, six does, and one nice buck.  Despite elk tracks aplenty, we never saw a single elk. Cody had to remind me that with the hot weather, the deer and elk would both be limiting their movement and there’s a good chance they were moving around mostly at night. It’ll be interesting to see what the next month brings to that country.

Despite the lack of game sightings, we accomplished some essentials – such as finding water, a camping place, and the simple fact of getting to really see the country in person.  We got an idea of where we want to be at first light on opening day after finding out the sun didn’t rise exactly where we thought it would after looking at it on Google Earth.  With the flowers in full bloom, turning the scenery back to a spring setting, it was certainly a trip well worth it!

Gear

Cody: Leupold 10

Spider Bull Get’s an Official Score

Well, the time has come for the Spider bull – his mandatory drying period finished, he was officially scored recently by Rusty Hall – and the official word? How about a whopping 501 gross and 480 1/8 net B&C. That means a potential world record.

Why still potential? Because this bull is teetering on the edge of a world record bull, it has to be scored by a panel of scorers who will then come to a final agreement on the score. But as the current record stands at 465 2/8, Spider Bull has plenty of room and will become the new world record.

Unbelievable! For the whole story, check out the ever informative site at King’s Outdoor World.

See the original article at BaseCampLegends.com