High water is an inescapable environmental factor that changes the dynamics of any river. Usually, not for the better. But, if you want to get out for a few casts it can still produce results. Today, the water was outrageously high. The water was swollen way over its banks and creating micro tributaries in places that were typically dry. Whitewater and fast water seemed to be everywhere. My favorite runs were not only unfishable, they were unaccesible. My typical methods were certainly not going to work. So, what to do? Go home or give it a try. Very rarely, is going home an option in my book, especially without at least giving it my best shot. Today, however, it was almost my only option. But, since I was already there and geared up it made a tiny bit of sense to throw some sort of fly in the water. So, I looked at the water and realized that I needed to forget everything that had worked before. I reverted back to the very very basics. I put on a streamer. Big and white. A Black Ghost. I anaylyzed the water and looked carefully for any slow spots or seems. They were few and far between, actually there seemed to really only be one spot. This spot was created by a huge back eddie and it was a spot that is typically only fished by the worm dunkers. Yup, it is customary for the bait slingers to claim ownership of this territory and the fly fisherman walk by them and proceed downstream. These two groups of Maine’s fresh water fisherman, fly fishermen and bait fisherman, have so little in common and there is really nothing to say other than “gettin’ any?” Actually, they have one more thing in common. The bait guys, the lure guys and the fly guys all come to this spot for one thing and one thing only. Potentially, big Brown Trout! Oh yeah, they are there. Not easily tricked, but they are there. In fact, they torment everyone. They lay there, without a care in the world and ignore every piece of artificial nonsense that is put in front of them. Worms, lures and flies drift right by their faces and they never even flinch. Typically, the biggest fish are taken on nymph rigs and by the flyfisherman. But, I am a little biased and I am sure the bait guys would say the exact opposite. Whatever the case, it was a mute point today because nobody was there. So, I stood in an unconventional fly fishing spot high above the water and casted an unconventional Brown Trout fly into the seem. It had to be a long cast in order to get past the raging current. So, I stripped off a ton of line and went for it. I felt the rod load after one double haul and release the line, leader and fly. Perfect! Just where I wanted it to land. I could see the maribou start to work its magic as it entered the soft water. Bang! The Brown Trout hammered the fly. He didn’t even question it. It was awesome and it was one of those times that I could almost feel that fish hit before he really did. I know it has happened to you. It happens to everyone once and awhile and it is a cool feeling when you get a sixth sense that a fish is going to take your fly. That was it for the grace and action. After that first fish it went all downhill. I tried to fish nymphs in my typical runs but it proved to be as fatal as I thought. I was either hung up in trees or stuck on the bottom. I would re-rig and get hung up in the same spot that got me before. The only sixth sense that was working was my sixth sense telling me to go home. So, I called it quits and went home. I would not recommend going out of your way to fish any rivers when they are at flood stage. But, if you find yourself there by circumstance or without having known the conditions were such, it can’t hurt to take a cast. Unless you fall in.
nice looking fish. at least you tackled the elements and didn’t just give into them.Interesting last sentence in this article. I remember your article from last halloween. Do you?.
You caught one! well whats next, the Rogue?
that is so cool pat. i take such care in writing the articles, not because i actually think anyone will read them…i do it…just because i love to write. always have, always will. but, i must say…i really loved that last sentence too…especially in the context of the entire piece. i kind of get like a little writers high when i write – because there is always a better word, a better sentence, a different way to weave the words…and i really put alot of thought into each word and sentence. i do not focus too much on perfection of grammar or spelling, as i feel that it is a distraction to the soul of writing. in the real world, that’s what editors are for anyway. the editors clean up all the little imperfections after the writer crystalizes the soul of the subject matter.
i have always loved to write. i enjoy all types of writing. technical, music (notes and words), marketing/advertising content, poems, research documents…it is very similar to flyfishing for me…finding the perfect fly/word.
Anyway, one thing i know for certain is that the internet has the ability to turn even the most patient person into frantic information junkie. gone are the days of ink and feather pens. today..we live in a world of speed.. what’s next..graphics things that move and more, more, more and can you blame us. look how much information we have. literally, at our fingertips. billions and billions of words, web pages, tv channels, satelite radio, IT is information the information age and information overload. Don’t get me wrong i love IT! In fact i promote it and even make a living off of it. but, what i really strive to find is the balance … the little pieces of all of it the make up one thing. and, that is how i originally created flies and fins.
i looked at everything going on and i thought to myself the following things:
forums – they are good for immediacy – but the long term value of forum related content isn’t there. its kinda like the phone – clearly a value to the conversation at hand – but you would not want to archive all of your phone calls and go back through them at some point in the future.
chat – valuable technology but immediacy is the benefit again.
white paper type articles – a little too boring for most peoples liking
photo galleries – not too much value without context – in other words i am certainly not going to go over a friends house and look through his shoe boxes full of photos. i need them to be put in context for me.
video – immediate gratification and a good tool for hightening the senses – but not always the best way to tell or listen to a story.
SO…I thought to myself: What is there that can tie it all together??? and fliesandfins.com was born
quality articles + 1 graphic + 1 video + 1 song + interaction = fliesandfins.com
now – sometimes all of the elements are not there … but you get the point. and more importantly than all of that – anyone can participate as a writer, photographer, reader….the writers that fliesandfins.com seems to attract are thankfully..NOT…the blow hard know it alls. All of the articles, from all of the writers are written with a certain sense of realness and that is what I like most. Nobody, at least not me, wants to hear from some self proclaimed know it all about this or that….who cares. and that kind of content gets real old real quick…there are plenty of “expert” fly tyers, guides, casters and professional this or that’s. i like to hear about the soul of a subject matter – not the Minutia.
Finally, my point.:) – i got a great deal of satisfaction from that last sentence. so much so that i even pointed it out to my wife. good sentences just seem to come from out of nowhere – NOT all the time – but when they come i’m like “YES! That’s IT”….That sentence was one of those for me…and it is so cool that you recognized it. because, i thought that most people never even read the words — and if they did they got too bored to finish and jumped over to the next website with the next new picture or forum thread or chat topic…
but that’s ok – cuz, in the end, i don’t really write for others – i write for me – always have – always will.
Great story jeremy. If there is one species i miss more than any up here it is brown trout, seems like i haven’t caught one in centuries.
thanks kodiak – i know what you mean – i tend to love rainbow trout and always kinda go where they are. just a personal preference – but if a long time passes between the browns, i certainly look at them and see them like i did when i first started catching them. their golden colors and colorful dots – i love all trout. any species of trout just does something for me that no other species of fish can do. i can not explain it – and don’t really ever try to figure out why…because i’m afraid they would lose their magic. i just like the mystery of not knowing why – but one thing is for sure – i love trout – and the brown trout is #2 on my list.
1. rainbow trout
2. brown trout
3. brook trout
4. cutthroat trout
– i know there are lots of variations and stuff – but those are the 4 primary species for me – and the order usually switches and is directly related to what i am catching:)
Well said, jer. I especially like…” i don’t really write for others – i write for me – always have – always will.”
Good substitute words for “write” might be; “fly fish” or “Photograph,” or “edit”, or “compose”. Fliesandfins is fly fishing esssence without hype. 100-proof.
I’m fixing leaks in the water system, sawing through aluminum carports and trying to fish in between. Spent some fun times with Marcel who heads home to the Netherlands tomorrow.
Marsh
ps. I know exactly where you caught that Brown. I miss going there.
i know you do. We have had some good days there together.
PS – are you coming back from fla for christmas?? — i am planning on trying my luck with winter fishing at shawmut alot this winter – got any tips for me? other than dress warm:)
My list would be the same as yours for sure.
yeah —- florida is great – but i bet you really miss the trout sometimes – i certainly would – next year – don’t leave so early – although- the water has been high since you left – but i got in a few good days where you told me to go – that run was packed with LLS – Big ones too. thanks for the info – had never fished that section of the river – certainly a nice run and breaks up the monotony of the typical sections that everyone goes to. small bwo’s on the surface in late october – gotta love it.
ps- no – i have no idea what article i wrote last halloween???
I’m staying here until spring.
You should do well at Shawmut and at the Skowhegan Pollution Plant stretch in Skowhegan as the water cools. Ask GregB to show you that stretch. We’ve had some fun days there. Your “go to” flies will be egg sucking leeches, muddlers and wooly buggers no doubt. Possible fishing on top will be at ‘heat of the day’ and, because maybe you’ll encounter the elusive tiny Olive hatch at either location, you’ll have to switch over to finer tippet, so use a floating 5 or 6-weight. Olives will show in the afternoon if they hatch.
Marsh
Sure I miss the “Last Hoorrah” of Maine local fishing, but there’s SO much to learn here that it obscures any of that melancholy I might hsve lingering.
Think of it. Where you would have to fish almost totally subsurface there, here, you can cast Gartside Gurglers, crease flies and actually sight-fish. Sight fishing is so much more exciting than subsurface probing for me. Especially in the passes and creeks. And, there’s so much water! Walk all day cast and pick apart Mangrove Snook haunts and cast to rolling Tarpon. You can’t fish it all. I like to fish for Sea Trout, and Largemouth too. There’s a truly vast and ever-changing wade fishery here with more and more friends to learn from and share it with. The flies are colorful and the size of fly you may use can be anywhere from an inch to 7 inches long. All are a challenge to tie. Here, you can CAST! Let it out. There’s often no limits to your back cast, side cast, and all varieties of retrieves! And there’s wind too, so you have to get truly physical with casting heavier rod weights, something I do more rarely up north. AND, the fish can be huge and yank your arms to aching. You know. Plus, the days never get too cold so you feel like quitting. You can even night fish.