Weather: sunny with slight breeze in morning; clouding over by 2 pm; rain shower in afternoon but no thunder. Temperature in high 70s.
I’m slowly starting to get the hang of fly tying, at least basic stuff like yarn, wire, marabou, chenille, and the whip finish. Hackles remain a major challenge. By the time of this trip I’d rounded up the necessary materials and tied 10 killer bugs, 10 Utah killer bugs, and three killer buggers. All seem tied pretty much to standard and I’ve proven that my home-tied versions of the killer bugs catch fish like crazy, so I’m fairly confident I’ve gotten competent at these. I also tied six San Juan worms with fine red chenille. The day before the trip, squirmy wormy material arrived from J. Stockard, so I tied two of these, basically just subbing squirmy wormy for the chenille in the SJW pattern. They were difficult to tie as putting three wraps over tended to pull the very malleable squirmy wormy off the shank in strange directions. It turns out from YouTube that it’s best to include wire and secure the squirmy wormy with just one wrap of wire in three places, not thread. The wire also provides some weight, which when fishing it was clear was really necessary. I also tried to tie my own conehead woolly bugger, but the result was not pretty. The cone wouldn’t fit on the Daiichi 1720 so I had to use the new 2220 streamer hooks I bought for Mickey Finn attempts. I ended up with too much tail, a reversed hackle, and a fat, gimpy fly. Sigh. I have to learn, as woolly buggers turned out to be key on Bear. The first fly I tied myself that I ever caught a fish on was a woolly bugger and I can tie plain ones reasonably well.
I was so locked and loaded for this trip. I got up at 6, didn’t have coffee or breakfast, just fed the cats, got my cooler loaded with ice (for water and gatorade), and headed out. Didn’t stop for breakfast or bring anything for lunch except two packets of crisps. I stopped at the BP station in Lamont and bought some chocolate bars, a rice krispy cake, and two Gatorades. Nutrition. Yup. Don’t try this at home.
I got to my favourite stream that shall not be named just after 8 am and geared up. Bitter disappointment. It was even higher than the last blowout, with evidence from the battered down weeds that it had been truly roaring at some point in the last few days. They must have had a massive thunderstorm in this area, as there was evidence from downed trees and the like everywhere I went. The initial ford was a raging torrent, the water so turbid you couldn’t see the bottom. Nope. Not happening.
So I headed for Grannis, given that last time there were blowouts, Grannis was low and clear. There were vehicles in the parking lot – the previous day was a listed stocking day. So I didn’t feel like dealing with that. I went to the upper pool and there was nobody there. However Grannis was also high and turbid, which really gave me a sinking feeling. Still, even though it was much higher than I’d ever seen it seemed worthwhile to see if squirmy wormies really do work in these conditions. I dropped one into the main pocket pool. It would have been great to have some weight to sink it. Either wire in the new pattern or split shot or both. I think I need to buy some micro split shot and a split shot clamp, just to always have the option to sink a nymph or whatever more easily. Definitely a tool missing from the box. Anyway, by dropping the fly in the fast water coming into the pool I got it to slowly sink toward the rear of the pocket. I couldn’t see it more than a few inches beneath the surface due to the turbidity. I wasn’t really confident much was going to happen and was about to give up when it got taken at depth. It turned out to be a nicely coloured small brookie. Major relief that I still hadn’t been skunked and had actually caught a trout. I got no other looks and didn’t stay long.
At this point I wasn’t sure what to do, as my favourite was whacked and Grannis also high and overpeopled. There was always Bear, but the portents weren’t good as last time it was more turbid than Grannis when there were blowouts. I decided to reconnoiter Ensign Hollow, which isn’t far to the east. I’d read everything about the weeds making fishing impossible in summer. You have to see things to truly get a feel, though. I knew I was in the right spot because there were catch and release signs on the trees, though no creek was evident. I found the tiny parking spot. Still no creek. Chest to neck high dense weeds. I plowed through these toward another sign on a tree. I could hear a stream but not see one. Finally I came to the edge of the stream. Tiny, lots of aquatic vegetation, and also high and turbid. I got my Rhodo out and geared up and gave it a try, but it was just impossible. Couldn’t move, couldn’t cast, and the few times I did manage to get the squirmy wormy in the water, no sign of a fish. At least I scoped it out and know where it is. Definitely one for the fall when the vegetation is frosted off. Even if it wasn’t running high, I don’t think this can be effectively fished in summer. It’s not a creek you can really wade in based on its size and the bottom. There are also lots of downed trees blocking the way. Given it’s a protected fishery, I’m looking forward to trying it in fall.
Now what? The only options left were Bear or Richmond Springs. I figured Bear probably at least offered solitude and decided to just take it as it comes, secure in the knowledge I’d already caught a trout. There were no cars there. I wasn’t sure if it was still getting stocked. It’s stocked unannounced and isn’t stocked in the summer because it warms up too much. I didn’t know when they stopped. The way down hadn’t been mowed since the last time I’d been (which was mowing day). There was a tree down across the track from the recent storm. I first went on the mowed track toward the first downstream pool. Surprisingly, it was in the best shape of any of the streams I’d visited. It was high, but clearly fishable. I started in the shallow riffles upstream from the pool with a squirmy wormy and immediately took five small creek chub. I relaxed at this, because it meant I was likely to have an enjoyable day of fishing ahead. Not the prime long day at my favourite stream I’d hoped for, but just fine. I moved down to the pool and heard a vehicle engine. Bit strange, given there is no real road down in the valley. Heard it starting and stopping downstream along the stream and figured out it had to be a DNR stocking truck. Sure enough, it eventually pulled up to the pool I was fishing. It was a pickup truck with a big tank in the bed. Out came a dude with a big net with a long wooden handle, and he scooped out maybe 20-30 trout from the tank, and just dumped them right in the pool. Huh. First time I’d ever seen it in action. So obviously they were still stocking. Maybe they stop at the end of June.
So this was neat, but it presented a new neurosis: I was on a stream, with no other anglers, on stocking day. It was going to look pretty sad if I didn’t catch any trout. But the water was off so it wasn’t necessarily a given.
It looked grim for much of the day. The new trout started rising in front of me, but weren’t interested in either of my available dry patterns, an elk hair caddis and a blue winged olive. I need to do something on these lines. I’m pretty sure most of the rises I’m seeing are for midges, but I have no midges of any description. It might be wise to buy a bunch until I have midge jaws and enough expertise and materials to start tying them. Anyway, nothing worked. I worked my way downstream and honestly, it wasn’t great. The vegetation gets almost impenetrable beyond the mowed lane section, and the stream slows down in long, hardly moving pools. Or at least that’s what it looks like with this much water. There was a track behind the weeds which crossed the creek a couple of times. I thought this was the DNR stocking track and that there was still stocking downstream. I gave up trying to fight along the banks, so followed it. It turned out to go to a farmer’s field where hay had been harvested. The stream ran in an arc on the far side of it. It was shallow but I had “lunch” and took quite a few chub and shiners. No decent holding water and no sign of trout. Again, it would really be worth checking out when the water is lower. I didn’t feel like wasting time going upstream from here given I’d just established it was mostly impenetrable. The weather was also starting to close in and rain was threatening and I wasn’t sure under the conditions that going further downstream would lead to anything, especially as it was obviously way past the end of where they stocked. I figured upstream was the answer as I had some experience of the water and could try better for the newly stocked trout there. I walked back on the lane.
The weather really started to close in as I arrived back at the starting point and soon a light rain began falling. I put on my bright blue North Face rain jacket, at which point it occurred to me I might want to look into a somewhat less obvious one. The weeds were worse than last time, having a few more weeks to grow, but I could just about access the shallow stretch at the start where I caught chub last time. I caught more chub and shiners. At some point I tried a chenille San Juan Worm. Didn’t get more than a couple of uncertain nibbles. They might have been a waste of time, seems like squirmy wormies are the way to go. Eventually I decided I was just going to put on a Utah killer bug and make that my fly, as I knew I could catch trout on it. At the top of this long shallow stretch is the first stocking pool. I saw a trout rise right in front of me in the tail of this pool. I cast the killer bug to the rise and it was immediately taken. Wheeeeee. Not a failure.
It turned out to be another brookie, reasonable size. I moved up to the second upstream stocking pool, the rock-in-stream pool where I’d taken some chub last time. At this point the rain really came on and I started to keep an eye out for lightning. There was the usual frustration of a killer bug seeming like a needle in a haystack in a deep pool. So I decided I wasn’t going to last much longer with the rain, and I’d already caught a trout to make me feel all right about stocking day, so I was just going to drag a woolly bugger through the pool for a while and call it a day. I used a store bought black one. I cast a bunch of times with no sign. Then, just like that, a big rainbow nailed it.
I fished a bit more and had one more spectacular strike from what looked like a rainbow which cleared the water after missing. When I caught the big one there was a second fish also following, so maybe this was it. However after that I got no more action. Now my mind was changed – it might have been the rain, but there was obviously interest in the woolly bugger in these deep pools. I decided to try both the last nice one upstream prior to the huge end pool and also to go back to the first one downstream where I’d watched fish get sloshed in. The upstream pool is where I’m pretty sure I had a trout follow last time. It’s hard to fish as it has overhanging trees. I managed to cast to its deep tail using a side cast, though I got caught in trees twice. I had major interest from a fish, five or six follows, but only one attempted strike (which missed and resulted in me losing a woolly bugger in a tree). I had a brief look at the huge pool – just impossible with tenkara, one for the bait guys or spin fishers. Then I went back to the first downstream pool.
The rain started easing up. I cast across toward where a big one was rising after the stocking. A decent rainbow nailed it on the first or second cast. My camera died after the first photograph. I had some more follows, but when I threw the woolly bugger upstream into the channel by the rock I got a hard missed strike. So I moved up to the top of the channel and cast back down, dragging the fly up the side of the current. This produced a bigger rainbow which struck near the head of the pool. I immediately caught a third, the smallest but still decent size. That was pretty much it. I’d caught three from the pool but didn’t get any further follows.
All in all, a good day and a great day given how it initially seemed to be shaping up. My second best trout day in Iowa so far, with six.
