Salmo trutta
04-24-2007, 11:35 PM
Fletchers April 24, 2007
Night and day difference between Sunday afternoon’s conditions and this evenings conditions. I had work obligations until 6:30 and was fishing by 7 in the fast water up river from fletchers. Little Falls gauge was around 4.5, temp 18 C. The river temp has raised 10 degrees C in just 7 days! Clarity was around 2 feet, outgoing tide, approaching low tide by the time I left at 9:30pm. There was a half moon that put out plenty of light to fish and to even stumble around on a few rocks.
Catch:
Hickories galore. Double hook ups were very common with a tandem fly rig, pink on the bottom and chartreuse on top. Once I hooked up I would usually let the fish sit in the current for a few seconds with the rod pointed down but upstream towards the bank I was on. This prevented the fish from jumping and hopefully would stop the fly from popping out of the fish’s mouth and ending up in the skull of a few spin fishermen who thought it was okay to crowd a fly guy. When I had a shad on with the rod point down for a few seconds, a second one could be seen swirling after the remaining fly. Several times this resulted in a double hook up. Most hickories near shore were the smaller 15” males but the larger fish were further out hiding behind the boulders. All the smaller males were happy to see me and were spitting milt all over the place. Fish could be seen doing their acrobatic synchronized whirlwinds as they actively spawned for as far as the eye could see.
As it got dark the herring came out to play in the shallows and I started snagging them all of a sudden with the double fly rig. It got to be a real pain in the a$$ unhooking dorsal fin hooked herring but for some reason the hour earlier this never happened. Plus this was the first time I caught a shad well past sunset on a fly! Conditions are prime, it’s peak, it’s time! It was like a seen from Planet Earth out there tonight. I think I got my shad fix.
Next time I’m going to handicap myself and bring the 3 wt with no sinking line. I honestly think it wouldn’t have mattered tonight the fishing was so good. Floating line could easily get the job done although I was throwing a full sinker.
Night and day difference between Sunday afternoon’s conditions and this evenings conditions. I had work obligations until 6:30 and was fishing by 7 in the fast water up river from fletchers. Little Falls gauge was around 4.5, temp 18 C. The river temp has raised 10 degrees C in just 7 days! Clarity was around 2 feet, outgoing tide, approaching low tide by the time I left at 9:30pm. There was a half moon that put out plenty of light to fish and to even stumble around on a few rocks.
Catch:
Hickories galore. Double hook ups were very common with a tandem fly rig, pink on the bottom and chartreuse on top. Once I hooked up I would usually let the fish sit in the current for a few seconds with the rod pointed down but upstream towards the bank I was on. This prevented the fish from jumping and hopefully would stop the fly from popping out of the fish’s mouth and ending up in the skull of a few spin fishermen who thought it was okay to crowd a fly guy. When I had a shad on with the rod point down for a few seconds, a second one could be seen swirling after the remaining fly. Several times this resulted in a double hook up. Most hickories near shore were the smaller 15” males but the larger fish were further out hiding behind the boulders. All the smaller males were happy to see me and were spitting milt all over the place. Fish could be seen doing their acrobatic synchronized whirlwinds as they actively spawned for as far as the eye could see.
As it got dark the herring came out to play in the shallows and I started snagging them all of a sudden with the double fly rig. It got to be a real pain in the a$$ unhooking dorsal fin hooked herring but for some reason the hour earlier this never happened. Plus this was the first time I caught a shad well past sunset on a fly! Conditions are prime, it’s peak, it’s time! It was like a seen from Planet Earth out there tonight. I think I got my shad fix.
Next time I’m going to handicap myself and bring the 3 wt with no sinking line. I honestly think it wouldn’t have mattered tonight the fishing was so good. Floating line could easily get the job done although I was throwing a full sinker.