[Note: I’m posting my fishing journal from 2015 as “retro trip reports” in chronological order and plan to write up future trips directly on the blog.]
Weather: sunny, warm but not hot
It had been raining with major thunderstorms so I was worried about the quality of the streams but I wanted to see how TheStreamThatShallNotBeNamed reacted and start to get some sense for how long it took to become fishable. It looked clearish on the way down but once I got all the way down it was higher than I’d ever seen it, most of the places we stand were underwater and the water was way off colour. I tried a few casts and might have seen one chub, then gave up. It would be interesting to see what a San Juan Worm would do under these conditions.
I went over to Grannis, and for the first time the main upstream parking lot was empty. I decided to have a go. It didn’t seem affected by the rain, low and very clear. It’s a tiny stream with limited holding water other than a few deep stocking pools. There is a concrete sidewalk built along a section near the parking lot, then a wide, mowed path leading to the pools. It hadn’t been stocked in nearly a week. I fished downstream, spooking some trout but not seeing a lot and not catching anything. Don’t seem to be any hordes of minnows like in TSTSNBN. Eventually I ended up at a big pool which was the furthest the mowed path went to. There was a tree across the current near the head of the pool and there were 15-20 trout lying in the current in front of and behind the tree. It was a pain, because there was a tree immediately above. I could cast, but failed hook sets got stuck in the tree multiple times and I lost several flies. I came close to catching a fish on a self-tied fly for the first time with a woolly bugger but missed the strike and lost it in a tree. Eventually I caught two brook trout, one on an amano kebari and the other on an ishigaki kebari. Then some guy came with a bait rig and started setting up two feet away from me. This seemed kind of rude, but to be fair I’d had the pool to myself for over an hour. I wished him luck and tried to go downstream. I went a fair way and saw a few fish, but it quickly became a ridiculous jungle. The middle section between the upstream and downstream groomed portions is close to impassible. I gave up and turned around.
Then, in late afternoon, I decided to go and finally check out Bear. Once again, it was the first time there were no cars in the parking lot. It was a surprisingly long walk down a decent trail across private property and down into the stream valley. Again, there were DNR mowed paths leading both up and downstream to stocking pools. I assume these won’t be maintained, as Bear is not stocked during the summer months. Bear is a considerably larger stream than Grannis, and much more like TSTSNBN in character. It’s in a gorgeous valley. I fished upstream. I caught only chub and shiner, 19 in total. I think I had a couple of follows from trout, but can’t be sure. I was certain I had a trout on the line at one point, but it turned out to be the largest creek chub I’d caught. Some guy came down soon after I started, friendly spin fisherman who chatted for a while. I fished up to what I think is the limit of the stocking, or at least the last pool the mowed path goes to. It’s a huge, deep pool by a big rock that I just didn’t have the range or flies to do much with.
At that point it was around 6.30. I thought about what Jene Hughes says in his book about people not staying out towards dark, so decided to drop in at Richmond Springs on the way home for the last bit of light. Sure enough, there was nobody there. It was incredibly high, spilling onto the grass in places, but the water was quite clear. I fished the lowest pool but didn’t see a fish. I had quite a few follows in the upper section beneath the spring and finally caught a brookie on an amano kebari. I fished until dark. It felt awesome driving home in the dark, smelling of Deep Woods Off.