Today I felt like a kid again. One of my favorite things to do is explore a new stretch of a familiar river. It's new, but not too new. You still know what flies will be effective, the likely hatches and this sense of familiarity keeps the experience from being overwhelming. However, finding new pools and holes and not knowing whats around the next corner fills you with a sense of childish excitement. It's also a bad time to forget your camera and rely on your phone to take pictures, however, I will return to this spot many times and pictures I will take!

I won't mention the name of the rivers I fish. This is for several reasons. First, I've seen rivers ruined by too much pressure back in Canada. Whitemans Creek was a wonderful fishery when I was growing up, but poaching and pressure significantly reduced the numbers of fish. Second, finding your own fishing is part of the adventure. It took me a year or so to find this spot on this river that I'm writing about today, but I'm glad I was the one to find it, it makes it more special that way.

Fool Me Once

Exploring this new stretch of river was wild fishing at its best. Hardly any paths along the banks, forging the way myself. A 20 minute walk from parking then another hour up river through valleys and gorges. I had fished the first section of this new stretch the day before with my good friend Phil. Kindred fishing spirits we are. Phil's wife once said the only person she's ever seen more excited about fishing was me! A side note about C&R and conservation here. Phil caught a lovely 13 1/4 inch wild brownie on that day. This day I was fishing the exact same spot and landed a 13 1/4 inch brown. Same tail markings same gill spots. This was the very next day and this fish took my dry with no hesitation. Catch and Release works. Period. I did feel bad hooking that same fish, shame on me. Although, I think it is important that we as fisherman know that when we release a fish it goes on living its life just the same. As a conservationist and naturalist I sometimes have a twinge of guilt about my piscatorial adventures, and this helped to mitigate any such guilt.


Up the river I went. Fishing likely holes and pockets as I went. Taking dozens of small fish to dries and small nymphs all from 6-10 inches. Fishing is part skill, part luck and mostly timing. You can fish the fishiest hole, but if the fish aren't feeding, you won't be catching. The fishing gods gave me a moment on this particular day, one I will remember forever. Timing was everything. I rounded a corner and there was a long slow glide and a few small fish rising.  At the top of this glide there was a large fallen tree, branches intact, that spanned the entire bank, lots of cover. Past the tree there was a good run with broken water that ended at the fallen tree with a 45 degree turn. A deep run with broken water is good holding water for any fish, however, in combination with a fallen tree that provides lots of cover for larger fish makes this water particularly special.  Remember I said timing is everything. Well something happened next that I had only heard of on English chalk streams where either you have to know the Queen to fish, or pay out a small fortune for a day ticket. The mother of all mayfly hatches. I had seen a few over the last week or so on the river but nothing like the numbers I saw today. Hundreds of them. And they were not ignored. Fish were feeding ferociously. Jumping 2 feet into the air for these tasty proteinaceous morsels.

Ephemera Danica: The Proper Mayfly

The next hour was the most incredible wild trout fishing I've ever had. 3 big fish to hand and released between 12-14 inches. This is big for this stretch of the river, and these fish will be old. They looked old, marked and scarred, but beautiful nonetheless.  I've caught bigger trout, but none in this fashion. All on a mayfly imitation larger than my fist. Only the big fish could actually fit it in their mouths. Two fish actually jumped clear out of the water for my fly, making my heart skip a beat. I won't attempt to put into words how I felt over that hour. But I don't feel the need to go fishing today...and that says something.