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"

Presentation, Presentation, Presentation...

The advantage of having kept a log is the perspective you can achieve by looking back over seemingly random events. One thing led more quickly to angling success with trout than any other: a 5-weight rod.

I'm guessing that most readers will interpret FFLog, the subtitle of RANDOM CASTS, as Fly Fishing Log. Many years ago, I created a habit. I disciplined myself to keep a fishing log, mainly because of my unreliable memory. I have friends who have a good memory - my brother, Dave, has a phenomenal memory, but when they ask me if I remember a person or event from our shared past, too often they are greeted with a blank stare - I just don't remember. Ergo, the FFlog!

One thing I do remember is singing in a community choir with a man named Wayne Crouse. We struck up a friendship through our shared interests in music and flyfishing. Wayne built custom flyrods, and my hobby was woodcarving and building 'crooked knives'. We also struck a deal - my project during the winter was going to be a mounted fish for Wayne's cottage wall, and his project was to be an 8 foot # 5 weight rod, crafted from Sage RPL Graphite blanks.

It was a long wait for fishing season to arrive, but when it did, Wayne had delivered my new fly rod. I went from a 'best ever' record of 50 trout a year, to catching and releasing 150 that season. My success steadily improved to 300 a year - and I was not a fishing pro - I worked a 5-day week like you.

What does that say about catching trout? It tells me there are 3 keys to success:

• Presentation
• Presentation
• Presentation
  

I had always used my #9-wt. salmon rod for trout fishing. It's all I knew - that, and the fact that I rarely caught a trout over 10 or 11 inches. The new #5-weight rod and matching, lighter-weight line allowed me, with only average casting skills, to present flies without spooking fish. This contributed to catching more trout, and also, bigger trout. I'm not saying you need a custom rod - today's production graphite rods are great, compared with the old bamboo and fiberglass rods I started with - but, if you haven't already done it, consider getting yourself a decent #5wt. If I were buying one, I'd get a 9 foot rod for better line control. Good Luck and Good Fishin'!
- Random Phrump