Medway Report 15 May 2008

Water temperature 14 C. Saw an almost white deer, a beaver, many ducks and cormorants, a great blue heron, an osprey. Shadbush is in bloom. Dark Mayflies with transparent wings. Caught & released five brook trout - from 9" to 11", and one salmon parr. The Usual #14, and RLM #8. Beautiful sunset. Blackflies a nuisance.

Good Luck and Good Fishin'!

RP

Photo by Random Phrump: View from the Water's Edge

Medway Report 23 April 2008

This time of year, I have to weigh my options carefully... do I go fishing, or go blogging? It depends on the weather, really, and the weather's been pretty fine lately, which means that I've been on the river most days after school.

The water temperature has gradually increased, a degree every couple of days, and today, it reached the magic number 10 C. In fact, it got all the way to 11 C in a protected cove. Not many trout have been showing since Opening Day, but I saw lots of rises today - and actually caught a dozen or more - I lost count. They were all small Brook Trout - 8"- 9" (20 CM) mostly, and they were dumb, too - but they were beautiful! The colors, are so vivid on a live brookie in your hand - mottled green and gold with red and blue spots, orange fins with white leading edges.

Beautiful and dumb! I used only one fly (#8 Rumsey Lake Minnow). Although these trout were feeding on or near the surface, they just couldn't resist the RLM cast to the rise form. Some trout took it as soon as it touched down, others gave chase and nailed it as I stripped it in. I did see a few larger fish and even hooked one of them briefly - long enough to know he was a beauty! I released all fish today - except for that last one - he finessed himself a LDR.

I've been putting this off - procrastinating, as the Missus calls it, but I'm going to have to break down and tie some flies soon. For 80 percent of my trout fishing, I use only 6 different patterns - 3 wet and 3 dry. Here's what I'll be tying:

WET
Royal Coachman Streamer
Rumsey Lake Minnow
Bob Root's Chili Pepper

DRY
The 'Usual'
Tom Thumb
CDC & Elk

The wets I tie in size 8 - the dries in 12, 14 and 16. Notice that the dry flies can all be fished wet and will still take fish. In fact they often are even deadlier, fished wet. I remember the day I waded up the brook between 1st and 2nd Christopher Lakes and released 30 trout on a wet #14 Usual! I guess I'm a "presentation" man - I don't match the hatch too much - except in size. I'm the leading proponent of what I like to call the Simpleton school of fly selection. As far as color goes, I think in terms of two - light and dark.

From this post, you should gather that fishing season is officially "on" here on the Medway. Why don't you take a kid fishing and give him a great memory before the blackflies get too thick?


Good Luck and Good Fishin'!

-RP

Photo by Random Phrump - "Spring Brookie"

Rumsey Lake Minnow

Rumsey Lake, spring-fed and shaped like a figure-eight, is nestled on the top of North Mountain in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. It is stocked with 12 to 13-inch yearling Rainbows annually and receives a fair bit of angling pressure during late spring and early summer. What makes this such a challenging spot is the unusual water clarity. I had fished it about 6 times, since my first visit in '95, but only in the months of August or September.

In October, 1997, following a long drought, rivers were low and my annual pilgrimage to Nova Scotia's North Shore rivers for Atlantic Salmon kept getting postponed until conditions improved. Every weekday at work, I prayed for rain that never came, dreamed of the 20+ lb. salmon that would fill the rivers, and each weekend I blunted my disappointment by spending one day on Rumsey Lake. Nor could I find a friend to go with me - despite repeated invitations, my fishing partners were either too busy or not interested.

The first Saturday I caught one 13" trout; the next weekend - none, although I hooked and lost two larger fish. The following weekend, however, things got interesting... I left home at 4:30 am in pitch darkness and arrived at the lake about 6:30 am just as the sun was streaking the horizon. It was cold, bright and calm. The colorful foliage of the hillsides was reflected in the perfect mirror of the lake.

I was using "Jackwhacker", a custom-built Sage (8ft-5wt) rod, in a 14-foot square-back canoe. I trolled a Muddler for a while and saw signs of fish - rises, finning, subtle vees on the surface, but always out-of-reach. Had one strike, but no hook-up. I tried slow-drifting with a weighted Chironomid with no success.

In the early afternoon, cloud drifted in on a NE wind and I moved to the SW end of the lake. My experience had told me that these Rainbows were cruisers, constantly on the look-out for dragonfly nymphs, surface flies and small minnows. The lake has two species of topminnows - the two or three-inch Banded Killifish, and the smaller one-inch Stickleback. I wanted a fly to represent the Stickleback and as I scanned the flybox, my eyes fell upon an unfamiliar pattern.

I remembered, suddenly, that it was actually a remnant of a fly that had been given to me years ago by a German fisherman I once met on the Medway River. We had exchanged Salmon and Trout patterns and this was all that was left of one of his favorite trout flies after being chewed by several enthusiastic Brook trout. The details of the original fly remain dim, but it once had a pair of yellowish duck flank feathers tied in as cheeks on each side at the head embracing a chenille body. After the side feathers had been chewed off, I had tossed it in the box, intending to retie it someday.

I tied it on my 2 lb tippet wondering if it would be about the right size, shape and color, and in a few casts, I had a 15-inch reply in the net. A few minutes later, I felt a heavy strike that almost stalled the 2HP Evinrude. I quickly shut it off and dropped anchor against the brisk wind, then noticed I was perilously close to a bed of lily pads. As I hauled anchor with one hand, the fish headed straight for the canoe. I had to snug the rope quickly in the cleat, then reel furiously to keep the line tight. The fish passed directly under the canoe and I followed with the rod from left-to-right across the bow. Horrors! The rod wouldn't come across the bow - it was hung up on something.

The reel was singing, the fish streaking for the middle of the lake, and the rod bent nearly double before I realized what was up. My anchor drops from a pulley in a hardwood board that extends beyond the bow of the canoe. I hadn't got the anchor all the way up and my rod tip was now trapped between the bow and the taut anchor rope. I started to sweat. The rod was about to break. God, no! Not "Jackwhacker", my favorite rod that had earned its name on Labrador's Pinware River (another story).

Putting the rod between my knees, I hauled anchor with both hands, secured the rope in the cleat, then freed the rod in time to see the last of the flyline pass through the guides. I started the motor and followed the fish, reeling in backing as we headed for the center of the lake. When the canoe was safely away from the weeds, I killed the motor, anchored and rose to do battle.

The 2 lb tippet was holding under the strain and soon I got a glimpse of the fish - BIG! a beautifully-colored male - hookbill, gold belly and scarlet flanks. When he was a rod-length away, I slipped the net in the water and drew him near, but he took off like a wet cat from a bathtub - no way would he come near that net! Two minutes more ticked by and I knew I would have to net him or lose him - too much could go wrong. There were several anxious moments when he was just out of reach, but oh, so close. Every time I put the net in the water, he would find some reserve of strength and turn away.

Finally, I got his head up, towed him over the net, lifted, and the battle was won! Four lbs, 22 inches qualified this Rainbow as my favorite fish of '97.

RUMSEY LAKE MINNOW

Hook: Mustad 79580 size 8 (or similar 3x streamer hook)

Tail: 2 light Badger Hackle tips extending 2/3 length of shank past the bend

Rib: Oval silver tinsel

Body: Light grey chenille

Tying Instructions:

• Tie in tail over barb.

• Tie in rib material and chenille.

• Take thread to head.

• Wrap chenille forward and secure with thread.

• Follow with tinsel rib and tie off.

• Whip finish and cement.

Fishing Tips:

The fly is very quick to tie and durable to boot. Although the pattern was discovered by accident, it has become one of my favorite trout flies. I've used it for ten years with success in lakes, brooks, meadow stillwaters and big rivers. A good technique is to use an Intermediate (I) Uniform Sink line and retrieve with slow short strips. Good Luck and Good Fishin'!

- Random Phrump

"Your true colors... are beautiful like a rainbow." C. Lauper

I have been at Acadia University this week learning about communication, collaboration, and inclusive education. My course is in the morning so that leaves my afternoon or evening free for fishing. There is a small lake only about 15 miles from campus that is stocked annually with rainbow trout - a species not native to Nova Scotia. After looking at a few maps and making some inquiries, I found my way to the shore of the lake and waded out.

I hooked one right away and stripped in line till I had the fish in close, then decided to wind up the slack and play him on the reel. That's when he did some aerobatics and finessed himself a long-distance release. The second fish was much the same. The third and fourth, I managed to bring to hand and release. In thinking about the experience, I love seeing and touching the fish, but I kind of like the LDR - it's a Win-Win situation. The fisherman wins because he fooled the fish into striking his fly, the fish wins, because he escaped from his predicament. The most successful fly was my #8 Rumsey Lake Minnow (3 out of 4 fish) and the other was the magic dry fly - #10 Tom Thumb.

TIP: For summer fishing, when it's too hot for waders, I like to wear shorts and an old pair of sneakers - but running shoes don't dry easily - they stay damp and smelly. I've tried those "river shoes" with the rubber sole and mesh top, which dry in a jiffy, but they don't offer much protection from rocks. This year I stumbled upon a pair of molded rubber clogs at WalMart for only $8 - knock-offs of the popular Crocs brand. I decided to give them a try. They are great - lightweight, comfortable, washable, fast-drying and like a suit of armor for your toes.