I have been on-call over the holiday weekend, and so I can't go very far from the hospital. Fortunately, one of the streams that I normally fish in the winter is not far from the hospital and cell phone coverage is just enough that I can still receive a text from the ER or hospital operator.
I hate just sitting around waiting for the next bleed to come in or the next patient call, so I thought I'd slip out for a minute to fish. My personality type won't let me go for very long or too far, but a few minutes in the water is a welcome help to decompress the stress.
The sky was cloudy and grey, but the water was nice, with a temperature at 6°C (42°F) and the air was a warm 8°C (46°F). To my delight there was very little breeze. The trout have all gone into winter mode, holding tightly to the bottom in pockets or under tree snags. They won't go far for a fly, so I have to get the fly to hit them on their noses.
I fished for 50 minutes and hooked four nice browns. I scared a few while wading upstream, which means I needs to work on my presentation, as I should have taken those ones I scared. But it's early in the winter season and I'm still transitioning from summer/autumn tenkara to winter fixed-line fishing.
The fly that worked for three of the trout was a #12 Egan's Red Dart, but a synthetic Prince also took one of the fish.
It was nice to get out of the house, and I look forward to being off-call so I can get back out and fish more freely without my ball-and-chain (AKA, cell phone).
I hate just sitting around waiting for the next bleed to come in or the next patient call, so I thought I'd slip out for a minute to fish. My personality type won't let me go for very long or too far, but a few minutes in the water is a welcome help to decompress the stress.
The sky was cloudy and grey, but the water was nice, with a temperature at 6°C (42°F) and the air was a warm 8°C (46°F). To my delight there was very little breeze. The trout have all gone into winter mode, holding tightly to the bottom in pockets or under tree snags. They won't go far for a fly, so I have to get the fly to hit them on their noses.
I fished for 50 minutes and hooked four nice browns. I scared a few while wading upstream, which means I needs to work on my presentation, as I should have taken those ones I scared. But it's early in the winter season and I'm still transitioning from summer/autumn tenkara to winter fixed-line fishing.
The fly that worked for three of the trout was a #12 Egan's Red Dart, but a synthetic Prince also took one of the fish.
It was nice to get out of the house, and I look forward to being off-call so I can get back out and fish more freely without my ball-and-chain (AKA, cell phone).
Tom your streams look fabulous. The browns look in great shape after the rigors of the spawn.
ReplyDeleteThat fly had to be designed with the brook trout in mind.
I agree; the browns do look quite healthy. This stream is the one that I fish all winter long. Most others are iced over, or too much snow to get to. But this one is a gem and is 5 minutes from my front door.
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