Medway Report 4 April 2008

I arrived at the river with oars and a life jacket, just in case I wanted to take the boat out. A steady stream of stoneflies was arriving at the Swirl and trout were lined up to feed. The Swirl is a great eddy. The force of the current and the contour of the bank causes the water to circulate in an oval path. Water actually flows upstream until it meets a jutting point of land and is sucked back to join the midstream rush to the Atlantic.

I didn't have any dry flies with me - just a box of streamers and wet flies. I tried the #8 Royal Coachman Streamer and got a soft strike, but no hook-up. Then a few casts later, got a heavy hit - but again, no hook-up. I got pretty excited about that one, because it really felt like an exceptional fish. I was thinking... 3-pound Rainbow?

I changed to a #10 Pink Mystery - tied by my good friend, Steven MacDonald - and damn, if a 10 inch Brook Trout didn't grab it near the surface. Later, I tried a #2 pink/orange/yellow Cardinell (looking for the one that got away), and took another trout - about 11". Both fish were released in good shape. I use barbless hooks - I may get a few LDR's (Long Distance Releases), but it is much less stressful to the fish.

I need to remember a few basic skills to be successful with barbless hooks. In general, I try to keep slack out of the line; set the hook with a flick of the rod tip; and maintain a tight line while playing the fish. It doesn't always work, but when I remember to use those skills, I usually get the job done. Trust me, if Brother Al can land a salmon on a broken fly, anyone can be successful with barbless flies. It adds an element of uncertainty to the sport, that I find enjoyable.

All of today's fishing was done from shore, or by wading a few feet out. The water was so cold (3 Celsius) I could not stay in it for more than 1/2 hour. I usually check the water temperature when fishing for trout. The magic number, by the way, is 10 Celsius. At 10 Celsius (50 Fahrenheit, for our American friends), insects start to become active and trout begin to get a lot more aggressive about their feeding. This increases until the water temperature reaches 15 Celsius - a Brook Trout's optimum temperature.

News Flash!

My brother, Steve, told me that a couple of Rainbow Trout were caught in the Sackville River this week. I think next time, I might have to take that boat out and have a good look around. We surely have some in our river if those aquaculture escapees made it all the way up the coast to Halifax.

News Flash! News Flash!

My son, David, told me that he heard there will be a Catch & Release season for Atlantic Salmon on the Medway River this year. That is, as yet, unconfirmed. I will be checking into this!

Good Luck and Good Fishin'
- Random Phrump

Medway Report 1 April 2008

I forgot about it being Opening Day while I was at work today. It rained hard most of the day and blew hard too. When I got home about 4:30PM, I was tired, but decided I would go out to the river, just for a few casts. The wind was steady from the Southwest at 40 kph, gusting to 70 kph. It was about 6 Celsius, 42 Fahrenheit, cloudy with light rain. There were a few stoneflies on the water, but no surface feeding that I could see.

I tried a hot orange/yellow #8 Muddler Mickey streamer, then a #8 Royal Coachman Hairwing streamer, and finished up with a #8 Rumsey Lake Minnow. A nice, fat 11 or 12 inch Brook Trout grabbed the Royal Coachman. As I brought the fish to hand and released it, I was amazed at how cold the trout felt. Checking the water temperature, it was no wonder - 2 degrees Celsius, about 35 Fahrenheit! That explains it.

That's all the action I got. I didn't see any other anglers, or any other fish. I was hoping for a rainbow trout, after the Hurricane Noel destruction of a local aquaculture farm last fall. All in all, I was happy with my hour on the river - it was a bit bigger fish than I usually catch. I will keep you posted on my angling adventures on the Medway this season.

About the Royal Coachman - the fly in the illustration is not exactly how I tie them - I use a sparse collared soft hackle instead of a throat hackle, and I believe the one I used today had a sparse white bucktail wing instead of the white calftail. Be careful with the length of the wing - a wing too long will get fouled around the bend of the hook. It can be a deadly fly for Brook trout in Nova Scotia. I always have this attractor pattern in my box for times when no obvious surface feeding is happening.

Good Luck and Good Fishin'!
- Random Phrump

Trout Artistry

A gentle breeze corrugated the surface of the small lake. A tumbling brook thrust itself, like the fingers of an outstretched hand, into the dark water. We stood in the late September sunlight, wafting #14 dry flies, and letting the current carry our offerings to the waiting trout. Dave and I were having one last cast on the Woodens River before the long winter arrived. A splash! Turning, I saw my brother's flyrod bow. Another splash - this time at my fly. I lifted too late.

There is something stirring about wild Brookies feeding en masse - the way they approach mealtime with total commitment. Like hogs, belly-to-belly at a trough, they line up, noses into the current, waiting for the next morsel to drift within reach. A full belly belongs to the swiftest. There is no nibbling, no tasting, only an all-out savage pounce that sends a tingle up the spine as your fly gets the chomp.

There is such variety in the ways a trout can attack the fly. Sometimes, a wake comes streaking across the surface to intercept and destroy; more often a flash of silver rises up from the depths to engulf your offering. Occasionally, the fish leaps clear of the surface and takes the fly on the way down. At other times, it will come smashing down on top of the fly, as if to stun it, then turn and gobble it underwater. The same manoeuvre is sometimes employed with a variation - instead of leaping, the trout merely rushes at the fly, then turns, and slaps it with his tail. Artistry is the only word to describe it. For some unknown reason, certain trout make a display out of catching their prey. Why? Perhaps, the simplest answer is... because they can.

Good Luck and Good Fishin'!
- Random Phrump