Here's a story about not going to the catskills...
So I woke yesterday morning thinking I might take the day off and head over to the WB. I call up a friend to see if he wants to go….he can't get out of work for the day, but he would be up for hitting a local creek afterwards. I think, sure, that works.
Now this creek is fairly small, maybe 25-35 feet across in most places, but it runs into a large lake, so it gets a decent (for it's size) run of rainbows in the spring. Nothing spectacular, but it's close by. I'd heard a few days ago some guys were catching small fish on dries, and I knew they usually heavily stocked the creek in the spring so the survivors would migrate back after dropping into the lake.
Fast forward to 5:30pm, I get off work, grab my 3wt EU rod and head over to pick up my friend, expecting an evening of picking on some pellet eaters. We're fishing and having a pretty solid trip with 2-4 fish each after an hour or so, and surprisingly decent sized with a few small fish as expected, but one each in the 14-16" range. Next cast, I give an enthusiastic hook set and my size 14 anchor nymph gets snagged on a log….the kind of log that starts to shake it's head. I can tell it's a solid fish, but I didn't expect the large lake run rainbow that gave a few jumps before tearing off downstream. This fish was a stocky 22" (later estimated at "3 kilos" by my friend, who doesn't tend to exaggerate more than necessary), but shaped like a football and fully colored with a wicked looking kype on it, and it was heading back to the lake. So there I was, holding my 3wt with 5x tippet and no net, yelling at my buddy to get around to the side so he could try tailing it. This fish proceeded to zig zag down the length of the creek a good 300-350 feet, while we are stumbling down the middle of the creek after it due to the fairly steep bank on either side. I'm dodging overhanging branches with my rod and my buddy takes a swim twice from jumping over the line as this rainbow changes direction while he's trying to tail it before I finally get it back within about 20' of me and up next to the bank where it can be tailed. Then, as my friend has one hand on the tail and another is lifting, this rainbow gave one last shake, dislodging the fly and dropping out of my friend's hand at the same time….so no photo for the day, but definitely the best fight I've had this season!
Having a beer afterwards, we both agreed that fish kicked our asses.
So I woke yesterday morning thinking I might take the day off and head over to the WB. I call up a friend to see if he wants to go….he can't get out of work for the day, but he would be up for hitting a local creek afterwards. I think, sure, that works.
Now this creek is fairly small, maybe 25-35 feet across in most places, but it runs into a large lake, so it gets a decent (for it's size) run of rainbows in the spring. Nothing spectacular, but it's close by. I'd heard a few days ago some guys were catching small fish on dries, and I knew they usually heavily stocked the creek in the spring so the survivors would migrate back after dropping into the lake.
Fast forward to 5:30pm, I get off work, grab my 3wt EU rod and head over to pick up my friend, expecting an evening of picking on some pellet eaters. We're fishing and having a pretty solid trip with 2-4 fish each after an hour or so, and surprisingly decent sized with a few small fish as expected, but one each in the 14-16" range. Next cast, I give an enthusiastic hook set and my size 14 anchor nymph gets snagged on a log….the kind of log that starts to shake it's head. I can tell it's a solid fish, but I didn't expect the large lake run rainbow that gave a few jumps before tearing off downstream. This fish was a stocky 22" (later estimated at "3 kilos" by my friend, who doesn't tend to exaggerate more than necessary), but shaped like a football and fully colored with a wicked looking kype on it, and it was heading back to the lake. So there I was, holding my 3wt with 5x tippet and no net, yelling at my buddy to get around to the side so he could try tailing it. This fish proceeded to zig zag down the length of the creek a good 300-350 feet, while we are stumbling down the middle of the creek after it due to the fairly steep bank on either side. I'm dodging overhanging branches with my rod and my buddy takes a swim twice from jumping over the line as this rainbow changes direction while he's trying to tail it before I finally get it back within about 20' of me and up next to the bank where it can be tailed. Then, as my friend has one hand on the tail and another is lifting, this rainbow gave one last shake, dislodging the fly and dropping out of my friend's hand at the same time….so no photo for the day, but definitely the best fight I've had this season!
Having a beer afterwards, we both agreed that fish kicked our asses.
