I hadn’t fished STSNBN since last August 08, though I’d stopped in a couple of times to find it either down to a trickle (last fall) or roaring (last winter). With a lot more experience under my belt, I was curious to go back to it and see what it felt like now. Answer: pretty much same as always. It remains my favourite stream for getting away to (the illusion of) a different world. The main thing that fosters this, I think, is that there is no prepared access whatsoever. No paths down the steep valley to it, and no paths of any kind along it. You have to wade extensively to have a hope of fishing it (not a problem, I think, in terms of stream ecology – it’s mostly a hard dolostone rock cobble bottom). Anyway, the time seemed ripe. Our camping plans were cancelled (as are many), this time due to some freezing night time temperatures (20F on the Friday). Saturday was cold. Sunday was showing rain and thunderstorms, but we figured as long as we were sensible about any lightning, it should be okay. It was a forecast high of 57. As it turned out, there were a few periods of rain and the odd rumble of thunder, but it was a mostly dry day, and sunny later on.
I brought along the Rhodo, GM 39, Kurenai, and James’s Fine Mode. The Kurenai didn’t get used. James fished all day with a 12 black woolly bugger (he’s not a big fly hopper). I ended up with the GM 39 rigged with a 12 sparkle bugger (just threw it together myself – a black woolly bugger with black cactus chenille subbed for the chenille, wire rib, and hackle) and the Rhodo rigged for nymphs. I went through (/lost) a bunch, with copper johns, bead head prince, hare and copper, walt’s worm, and egg patterns all getting a try, but mainly the first two listed.
Things started out slowly. I had two follows from a small trout at the starting pool and caught a chub, but the stream is yet to be swarming with chub the way it was last year in late spring/early summer. James had a slow start. We moved downstream to the second reasonable pool, from which we’ve never really caught much of anything. To my surprise, I caught a medium-small brown on the sparkle bugger.
It was feeling like a slow but okay day, but the chub started to wind up.
We made it to the big pool. We didn’t see much of anything, but as we were about to leave I got the nymph rig set up and tried for a while. I immediately caught another small brown on a copper john.
I started to get my hopes up. We’ve never caught more than three trout in a day here, and now we had two not long after we’d begun. Sadly, STSNBN lived up to our experience as hard water, and three was all we’d end up getting. But what a third.
Before that, the chub really started coming in waves.
James was still in the single digits, but we reached “chub pool” above the really trouty section, and he set up and started hauling in one after another.
The trout section was a total disappointment. The pools were radically reconfigured. I hooked one big brown briefly on a nymph, and that was it. So we ended up at bottom pool with the sun out. We could see a couple of big browns on the bottom, but they were spooked. The chub weren’t, and James went to town again.
I mostly watched, but I threw on some flies just to see what would happen. I finally caught a fish with a pigsticker.
James started catching so many, he got a whiff of going for his personal best. It was set last year on the same stream, at 24. I mostly sat back and recorded, with some shouting of advice, as we worked our way back upstream.
I did, though, put a line back into the trouty pools. Without any hint or warning, I ended up with the largest fish we’ve seen since starting last year on my line. It hit the sparkle bugger. I was sure I’d manage to lose it. It fought so hard my right arm was hurting from trying to move it in. The GM 39 had plenty of backbone for it. It took a while, but I got it in and into the net. A great, girthy, 15″ stream raised brown (took the tape measure to it to be certain). So big the jaws were starting to hook a little. So suddenly a nice day was a great day.
I figured James would hit his record at chub pool, but there was little action there – he hooked but lost a couple. There was plenty of light left and he wouldn’t quit – worked every pool as we went back up, and kept creeping toward the mark.
Eventually, about half way back, he hit 23. Then 24.
Then 25.
At that point I glanced at the time and was shocked to find it was 7.30 on a school night. The thrill of the chase had vaporized time – I thought it was 5.30 or 6. So we packed up and marched back.
The bats were out skimming the pools for insects. It’s only about three miles total, but STSNBN always grinds you down a bit. I guess it’s that you’re constantly in the water and slogging over uneven ground. We got back just as darkness was falling.
About as sweet a day as you could ask for. I would like some day to catch more than three trout here, but I can’t much complain about the largest fish we’ve seen in a full year’s fishing. James ended with 22 creek chub and three common shiner. I caught 41 creek chub, four common shiner, and three brown trout.