I fished the Clear Fork River in the park on Wednesday. The water level was good (on the low side) and the water condition was excellent. The water temp was cold at 36 degrees. The trout wouldn’t move to streamers but small nymphs were working for the “class of 2006″ brown trout.
The gauge shows that the water came up today but is still in the fishable range. Keep an eye on the gauge in case they start to release from the dam.
Tight lines.
The thaw is on, at least here in Ohio, and a month from now we can easily be into some good fishing. But in the mean time I’m sure many of you, like me, are arranging gear, tying flies and imagining past trips or trips to come.
To help with those imaginings the R. L. Winston Rod Company has come up with some short films that can take you places you’ve perhaps only dreamt of.
Check out their FlyFishingMovies.com page for examples of amateur fly fishing video or The Winston Channel for Winston produced shorts and educational films.
Even if winter is long from over, at least we can fish vicariously for the moment.
Reading the water, reading the weather, reading about fly fishing. All are important to increased success and enjoyment of the sport. As part of my spring training I’ve been re-reading Gierach’s Fly Fishing Small Streams and Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout by Bob Linsenman & Kelly Galloup.
In Modern Streamers I came across the following quote that so clearly sums up an angler’s approach to any piece of water. “The most important element in reading water is practiced observation. Do not look at a sizable stretch of river as a whole; take the time to break it into smaller, manageable sections.”
When I read that this morning it reminded me why I read Fly Fishing Small Streams every year…It’s to remind myself that no matter what water I’m fishing if I treat it like a small stream and use the tactics that Gierach describes I’m going to improve my chances for success.
The picture is a nice brown caught with a large conehead streamer on Colorado’s Gunnison river.
Big fish, big fly! Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout by Bob Linsenman and Kelly Galloup changed the way I think about and fish streamers. Almost every day at the fly shop I see people pick up large streamers and set them down saying something like “I couldn’t cast that, it’s too big.”
Modern Streamers will show you that you can indeed cast large streamers by re-thinking your leaders and line choices. I can’t say that reading this book will put you onto monster trout but it will have you casting and fishing streamers more effectively. The fish will follow.
It’s February so it must be time to re-read John Gierach’s book, Fly Fishing Small Streams. First published in 1989 by Stackpole Books, “Fly Fishing Small Streams” quickly made it into my library as a go-to, how-to book. It’s a small easy to read volume that fits nicely into the glove box of the car. I’ve read the book or parts of it over and over, each time re-learning some valuable lessons.
