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Scott Seidman · April 17th, 2006, 03:30 PM posted to rec.outdoors.fishing.fly

William Claspy wrote in news:C06912BF.F1E9%
:

Last week Scott asked if any of us were going to fish over the Easter
weekend. I had the good fortune to get out on the river for a spell
yesterday, Scott, so I thought I'd post a report.

Thanks. Nice trip!

I'll follow up her with my own experience. Let's title it "Some things
went right, other things went wrong"-- all in all not too bad for a first
outing of the season.

I tied up some Usuals in Hendrickson colors on a size 14 on Saturday.
Made sure I had my hat with my flip-down magnifiers, my GPS along with
fresh batteries, as I heard that one of the main roads near my
destination has a bridge out, and I might have some troubles finding a
detour, my license, which I had misplaced for a while, and fly boxes,
tippet material and the like. Also, cleaned out many of the bags of
tying materials out of my car that were gifted to me a few months ago,
and packed them up with some moth crystals (not that I suspect insect
life, as the stuff is well packed, but can't be too careful) to make more
room.

Sunday rolls around. I make the wife and myself omelettes, and toast,
with Tiptree Little Scarlet Jam (find it and try it!! This is the stuff
James Bond started out his mornings with in the novels). Popped a few
waters in the mini cooler, checked the water levels to make sure I
wouldn't drown, and away I went. Turn on the GPS, so it's ready when I
need it. Low battery warning, then it turns off. Well, my early
planning has was again thwarted Eris, goddess of discord, and I reach for
my eightpack of fresh AA's.

Sure enough, I drive about 40 minutes, and come to the "bridge out"
signs. No worries. Jim Strong told me what to do. He told me to take
the other fork above Scotsville, and then find Wheatland. Driving,
driving, no Wheatland! I just zoom out on the GPS, sight Caledonia, and
back on track. Maybe ten minutes or so out of my way, but I'll get
there. Screw you, Eris!

Got to de ribber, geared up in the parking area, and down to the water
with me. Walked a short ways, to my first good spot, just above the
bridge abutment, where theres a nice riffle. Must have been a quarter to
twelve. On the bank, I rebuilt last years leader with last years
tippet material, and in I go, managing not to fall in the slick mud. In
short order, I miss a hook set somehow, with the fish wiggling on the end
of my tippet. This is something I've noticed a bit when I fish my 3wt.
It doesn't set hooks like the 5wt, and I need to be a bit aggressive with
it. Within about a half hour, though, I take a smallish brown on a
Hendrickson nymph, stuck right in the nose.

Aah, but my right foot is feeling a tad moist. Never mind-- I'm fishing
dammit.

I see a few Hendricksons popping, but not many, and I'm working my way
slowly downstream. I look around, and it's a grey and somewhat chilly
Easter. I start worrying a little bit about how well the hatch will come
off. I start to see a sporadic riser back where I caught the first
trout, back a ways downstream. Now, over the years, I've learned that on
this water, with these sporadic risers, its best not to annoy them with
dry flies. Just thank the fish for telling you where he is, and take him
subsurface.

But this fish is downstream from me. What to use?? I rummage around a
bit, and come up with a very buggy looking hair-hackled wet of mine. I
don't fish wets very much, but I'm really trying to get better with them.
Down and across, mend up to slow the swing. Let out a bit more line on
the cast, and repeat. Take a few steps downstream, and repeat some more.
You cover alot of water fast. Now, my swing is getting really near that
fishy place. Fish on.

I rassle with him a bit, net him, and measure against my rod handle. All
the way to the end of the "A" in "Sage SP". Nice fish for this water.

Now the wind picks up a tad (maybe the 3wt wasn't the best idea), but the
hatch is starting to come off, and fish are starting to rise. Time to
tie on a dry. I reach for the tag end of my 5x tippet spool, and pull
some off, only to have the last six inches of the spool come right off in
my hand! Ok, so I'll just stick to the 3x.

My Usuals seem to be being ignored or refused. Could it be the 3x
they're tied to? With the low-floating fly, perhaps this is extra
noticable, or just causing too much drag. Maybe in the Usual, this fly
is a tad too long, and I needed to bring it down a size. Unfortunate--
I've had a lot of luck with the Usual on many different hatches, but I
really wanted it to work yesterday, as I plan on doing a demo of it on
Wed nite, and I wanted to be able to say I caught dozens of fish with it
on Sunday. The tipped gives me an excuse, though.

Swinging with the punches, I tie on a traditional Catskill Hendrickson
with som beauteaous wood duck wings. The hooks are 14's, but the body
seems a tad shorter, and it will sit higher in the water, so maybe the 3x
tippets won't be that noticable.

BAM-- first drift. Sizy trout has me twiddling the drag on my Ross.
Struggling a tad with some tangled line off the reel, but I keep the
tension on, get all the line on the reel, and bring the fish to net, but
not before I hear a loud POP of some sort. What the hell was that? Rod
seems intact, fish is still on, no biggee. Fish is bigger than the last
one. Revive and release him, then reach for the dry shake to retore my
Hendrickson. Hatch really going good now, fish all over the place.

Well, the dry shake is seasons old, but seems to do OK, despite all the
pink crystals being blue, or blue crystals being pink-- whichever means I
need new dry shake. I take a small fish that I didn't have to move very
much for. Now the fish are going wild. Maybe it's time to go back to
the Usual, now that the frenzy is on. I reach for the Usual on my fly
patch... what, where the hell is that fly patch??? Well, maybe that
explains that pop I heard earlier. Patch is just gone. Quite a few
flies on it too. Well, steelhead flies, big fuzzy stones, buggers, and
glo bugs. Some bluegill spiders too. Well, those, and the successful
nymph and wet fly. That shopping list is starting to get a little long--
shout eat well past what's left of my credit at the fly shop.

Well, I still have plenty of Usuals. I cut off the traditional, hooked
it in the plastic strike indicator bag (no patch, remember), and fished
the Usual on my 3x tippet.

Long story less long, no luck on the Usuals. Caught a half dozen fish,
four of them 13" or longer. Hatch died, left the river about three pools
upstream of where I got in. Four hours of fishing, six fish, and a
restored soul. Not a bad day

--
Scott
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