Green Drakes

Well, it looks like the Green Drakes, or what remains of them, have started coming off the Credit. If this is true, the hatch will be done by the weekend, and I will have missed it. I may be able to catch the drakes on another river, further north though.....maybe.

UP Trout Rivers

I sampled several trout streams in my travels through the Upper Michigan Peninsula. Overall, I didn't do nearly as well as I did last visit, when I fished the Fox and the Driggs and the Big Two-Hearted. This time, I fished the Sturgeon, the Black (the little one on the Lake Michigan side), the East Branch of the Escanaba, and the Carp. Of those streams, I'm adding the East Branch of the Escanaba to my list of streams to explore further down the road.

You can see the East Branch easily right in the town of Gwinn, where it runs through a lovely park. I accessed it about 6 miles upstream at a wooden bridge. Above the bridge it is slow and featureless, but below there is a long series of lovely runs and riffles. The brookies I caught were not big trout, with the exception of one I hooked but failed to land that looked to be in the 13 or 14 inch range. This stream is a pleasure to fish. It is wadable, and open enough for casting. There were plenty of caddis around when I was on the stream, and a #16 caddis adult worked well. Small streamers also excited the trout - so I fished a streamer downstream and dries back up.

During the week, I saw quite a variety of mayflies - including some big dark flies - maybe March Browns (?) and some very big bright yellow flies - are these the UP version of the green drake, or some kind of yellow drake? I don't know. I didn't see huge hatches of these, but enough of both that it wasn't a fluke. There were also some flies that looked like Hendricksons, but a little smaller than ours, and some #16 black body flies, and some olives. As well, I saw a variety of stoneflies during my stay.

to the U.P. for a few days

Sunday, I'm going to drive to the Upper Michigan Peninsula for a few days of camping and fly fishing. I still haven't decided which streams I'm going to fish. There are plenty of brook trout streams to choose from. I'll post some details when I return.

Water was clear, but no bugs

I had some time this afternoon, so off I drove to that little stream I've taken a shine to. The thing about this stream is that it doesn't look like much at first glance, or even at second glance. In fact it is barely big enough to fly fish. But it does hold plenty of trout, including a few good ones. I thought with all the rain we've had (I know it stormed up there yesterday), it may have been blown out, but in fact it was normal level and clear.

I was on the stream at about 1:30. A dark cloud hung overhead. Water temperature was 54 f. No hatches to speak of all afternoon. I saw a few olives and at about 3:30, 4 hendricksons. In some good pools, I could see nice trout finning on the bottom, but I didn't catch a trout until 4:00. I caught the first brookie I've seen on this stream - only about 8 inches, and a brown just a little better...and in the run just above the bridge, I caught an 11 inch brown. The sky was getting darker, and a cool east wind was blowing. Thinking it was going to storm, I packed up and headed out at about 5:30. It was sunny when i arrived back in Toronto.

If it doesn't rain too much between now and then....

I'm going to go to a top secret creek for the afternoon and evening on Sunday. It is a small stream that holds a good population of browns (and apparently some brookies, although I have yet to catch one). Mostly, a twelve incher is a good one there, but I have caught some very nice trout. You just drive up, um, what's the name of that highway, and turn left then right, and over the bridge and out behind town for a couple miles. The name of the road is, um...oh it's on the tip of my tongue. I've yet to see another fly fisherman there. The person who told me about it is on the fast-track to heaven, baby. Just don't try to follow me.....

A good day on the Credit

I stepped into the water above the spot formerly known as the second parking lot at about 2:00. Cool sunny day, breezy. Water temperature 54 f.

A good Hendrickson hatch came off from about 2:45 until 4:30. I was at Brimstone pool when I saw the first of the bugs. I caught a 15 incher in a fast run above Brimstone on a comparadun and a couple 10 inchers in the same area. Further upstream, there were some very good trout splashing in a flat. The same run had some smaller trout rising in the faster water - the big ones were close to the far bank. I had several refusals before catching a very nice 18 inch brown. Once the hendricksons stopped, there was I minor hatch of olives. In another flat I pricked two large trout on a little Adams. By 6:00 p.m. the only bugs on the water were some tiny midges, and the trout were not rising to them. The temperature dropped a few degrees and all surface activity stopped. Before mother nature turned the bug tap off, I had caught four trout, including 2 very nice ones, and missed lots more rises.

I worked up to Stuck-Truck pool - another fellow was coming down to the river here so I left the stretch to him and walked up to the meadows. I was not happy with what I saw. There was a group of guys with spinning rods. They had a fire going at the bottom end of the meadows to grill meat. I saw several discarded beer bottles in the area (as well as quite a lot of litter in general in the area. There was an open worm container not far from the group. I said to these guys, "hey, you're not using bait, area you?" and they said no they were not. I told them there were special regulations on the river, single barbless hook, catch & release. There were several of them and I didn't want to get myself beat up so I retreated, but I'm sure these characters were poaching. From a distance, it looked like they were using spinners. I also noticed two other discarded styrofoam worm containers littered in the meadows. We need some enforcement up there!! I called the MNR tip line and asked for some enforcement in the area.

Nice article from the Toronto Star on the weekend

A fishing tale, recast at 62 - "Even after stroke, 78 year-old still tying works of art. A trip north nearly 70 years ago led to lifetime passion".

Note: East Texas Red says Hendricksons were coming off the Credit opening weekend, while I was in Montreal.