Leader to Tippet to Fly

One thing connects to another….

Tag Archives: trout

Hanging On – Is Winter Over Yet?

As much as I wish it were different, winter means a slow down in my fishing. By this time of the year, I’ve had enough. Sadly, we aren’t done yet (although there is hope).

Today was an injection of hope. Our local fly fishing club and Jencor Entertainment Inc. (producers of The New Flyfisher TV program) made a dent in the winter blues.

While people skated on the world’s longest skating rink (Ottawa’s Rideau Canal) across the street, about 45 of us were treated to a great workshop by Tom Rosenbauer.  The topic: Prospecting for Trout.  For those of you who don’t know, some years go Tom wrote a book by the same title.  The latest version The Orvis Guide to Prospecting for Trout: How to Catch Fish When There’s No Hatch to Match was revised in 2008.

I have enjoyed Tom’s regular podcasts on various fly fishing topics and he was equally informative and good to listen to in person. I understand Tom has a new book coming out but I didn’t catch the title – something to watch for.

Judging from the enthusiasm in the room today more people than just me are chomping at the bit for spring to arrive.

Spring Fishing – Pick Your Weather

Another spring trip to Kenauk has come and gone. Like usual, it was a great trip – good fishing with good friends. We were a few weeks earlier than previous years so I wondered what to expect. As we got closer to departure, the weather forecast seemed to get better and better. And Sunday, our first day was great. Although I arrived late, there was still time for some excellent fishing on Lac Sugarbush. First fish caught was a chunky 18 inch rainbow trout – a sign of things to come I hoped. And several more were added before it was time to head in for shrimp pesto dinner. Did I say we were roughing it?

The next morning after a quick breakfast it was over to Lac Vert. The fishing was slower than the day before but still not bad. After lunch Bob and I decided to check out Lac Collins – a brook trout lake that neither of us had fished before. By the time we arrived the wind was up and the weather was starting to change. No matter. After a short walk in from the road, we launched our float tubes and headed out in search of brook trout, Bob heading one direction around the lake and I, the other. It didn’t take long for the fish to respond and after a couple misses I hooked and landed a couple nice fish including this sixteen inch brookie.

We continued to fight the wind which was blowing from one end of the lake to the other but after a few hours decided to pack it in and head back to Sugarbush in hopes of an evening hatch to match the previous night (when we were absorbed in shrimp and pasta). Despite a great evening, the hatch never really materialized.

Back in the cabin preparing for steak dinner, the discussion revolves around the changing weather gleaned from the papers Don brought up earlier that morning. Why is it when the forecast is bad – it is accurate? Tuesday morning looked like a different world.

But we were there to fish so off we went. Thanks to George for this shot of me looking a bit stunned.

Once you got used to the idea of fishing in the snow, it wasn’t too bad. Other than the wind blowing down one’s neck the biggest challenge was keeping the hands warm. And that was only really a problem when one caught a fish. What a problem to have.

One of the best things about having a cabin close by is that when one does get cold its not a big deal to kick back in and head in for a cup of coffee. We took advantage of that a couple times before deciding to head over to Lac Vert later in the afternoon. Gear was quickly loaded in the vehicle for the short trip over to the lake. Not surprising, the weather was snowy, winding and cool over there too.

I got on the water before Bob and headed to the bay across the lake where the fish were said to be cooperative earlier in the day. Sure enough, my yellow Hamill’s Killer started producing results almost immediately. For some reason, I was having trouble translating hits to hooked fish going about 50 percent before deciding to head back to the other side of the lake were Bob seemed stuck at the launch spot. Working my way back against the wind, Bob informed me he was fishing a floating line and dry flies in response to rising fish. It seemed a midge hatch was underway in the middle of the snow fall.

I switched over to my other rod which was rigged up with a floating line and the action started almost immediately. Nice sized rainbow trout seemed more than willing to attack our dry flies, aggressively smashing them on or just below the surface.

Although we had a bit more snow overnight, Wednesday morning was free of precipitation. But it was still windy.

There was still time for a few hours of fishing. Some of the guys headed over to Lac Vert but I decided to stay at Sugarbush and was rewarded with a few final rainbows before packing it in around mid morning.

All too quickly the three days were over and it was time to head home. Another great trip – hopefully not the last.

Spring Fishing in Québec

The spring version of our Québec fishing trip has come and gone. Three days of great fishing with good friends flew by all too quickly.

Our trip took us to Kenauk, the 65,000 acre fish and game preserve owned by the historic Chateau Montebello hotel.  From mid day Sunday through to noon on Wednesday, we had two rainbow trout lakes to ourselves.  One of the lakes – Lac Vert (Green Lake) is noted for plentiful fish and the other Lac Sugarbush for more sizable rainbows.  This year I spent all my time at Sugarbush but the reports from Green indicate the fishing was excellent.  We didn’t have anything to complain about at Sugarbush although by all accounts the fishing was generally slower.

While the trip started with us fishing in shirt sleeves, Monday was cold and windy and Wednesday morning was wet – a real range of conditions.

For the most part we trolled although later in the day it was possible to fish a dry fly with some success.  Sunday night there was a notable Hendrickson hatch but the other nights it seemed more likely the fish were feeding just below the surface.

The chalets (one per lake) provide excellent accommodation – more than adequate for sleeping and fine dining.  Sometime too much dining.  We basically missed the mayfly hatch the first night because we were preparing for shrimp pesto.  Note to self – schedule dinner well after the hatch since you may not see one again (our case).

Chalet at Sugarbush

Although a lot of my still water fishing involves trolling, there were opportunities to fish with floating lines and dry flies.  Here Bob is landing a rainbow caught on a Humpy I think.

Dry Fly Fishing

A couple loons call Sugarbush home and they were none too shy.  Sometimes I wondered whether they were stalking us in anticipation of dinner.

Searching for Dinner

The trout we caught varied in size from probably 12 inches to a massive 27 inches.  The latter is apparently the largest caught at Sugarbush.  This one was more modest in size.  The photo is my attempt at fishing and self photography while navigating a float tube.

Handful of Trout