Last Thursday seemed like the perfect day to start my 2015 trout fishing season. The water levels were perfect and the afternoon forecast was for gorgeous weather. It was definitely worth skipping out of the office early.
 |
| Path through a fine forest to access the Nissitissit River |
No big deal, but I got skunked. (The funny thing is that I mentioned this to a non-fishing colleague at work the next day and he seriously wondered how I was able to get rid of the smell so quickly. I forgot that "getting skunked" is a fisherman's figure of speech. Haha.)
Though I did not catch any fish, I did enjoy my new fly rod. It's a 9 foot 4 weight built for me by one of my fishing buddies, Paul DiNolo. If you've been a reader of my web site you'll recognize him as the author of several articles in the "Flies With a Story" section. He started with a Shu Fly brand rod blank and added parts purchased from Jann's Netcraft. I've never had a 9 foot 4 weight before. In the past I've used a 9'5W for rivers and float tubing, and a 8'4W for streams. I now have a new option.
Mayflies were all over the place but I caught no fish. Nor did I even see a fish. The water was still cold, at about 48F. Maybe that was the reason there was no (apparent) fish activity. Certainly, there was no surface activity other than mayflies coming off the water.
 |
| My never-fail riffle disappointed me on this occasion. |
Perhaps (but I doubt it) my problem is that I fished the wrong flies. I actually only fished a bunch of beadheads. As I walked downstream I swung in the current what I thought would be irresistible beadheads. I experimenting with sizes 12,10, and 8. Walking back to my car upstream, I fished the same beadheads up-stream, nymphing-style, with a foam float indicator. I fished all the good looking spots and all the spots where I'd caught fish in the past... but with no results. Coming from one of my friends, "that's why they call it 'fishing' and not 'catching'!"
 |
| The above two images are the same fly. Though I got skunked today, I use a ton of these fuzzy beadheads. This is a size 12 2xl, made from a single quail rump feather. |
Though I did not catch any fish, I did enjoy my new fly rod. It's a 9 foot 4 weight built for me by one of my fishing buddies, Paul DiNolo. If you've been a reader of my web site you'll recognize him as the author of several articles in the "Flies With a Story" section. He started with a Shu Fly brand rod blank and added parts purchased from Jann's Netcraft. I've never had a 9 foot 4 weight before. In the past I've used a 9'5W for rivers and float tubing, and a 8'4W for streams. I now have a new option.
No comments:
Post a Comment