Vermont Trout Video

For me, fly fishing is a paradigm. It is connected to the totality of my life experiences and a never ending journey that encompasses a dynamic range of places, people and species of fish. I recognize and view each experience as part of a life long journey and collection of experiences but also through independent prisms. Fly fishing has brought me to some of the worlds most beautiful places, it has been the initiator and corner stone of many long lasting friendships and it continues to be an evolving learning process. Every place I go, every person I meet and every fish I catch or don’t catch teaches me something. Last week, I had a great experience. I was in Vermont, the home of The Orvis Company and Tom Rosenbauer, author of The Orvis Guide To Fly Fishing and numerous other fly tying and fly fishing publications. Whenever I am in Vermont, I typically bounce around the Battenkill River and other wild trout streams by myself. I was preparing for a typical evening of driving around to various spots, looking for rising wild fish and hoping to get a shot at the legendary 4-5 pound wild Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout that have eluded me for many years. Actually, I had been skunked on my last few outings in Vermont, so any size fish would do. The wild trout of Vermont are frustrating to say the least. Many of the streams are small, quite and easily disturbed. Some evenings, I have watched a seemingly countless number of wild trout rising in a pool and other evenings that same pool seems void of life. Often is the case on any wild trout river. So anyway, just prior to preparing for another evening of solo fly fishing in Vermont, I get an invite from Tom Rosenbauer. Tom said, “Hey Jeremy, I got a spot for you to try. I saw a few fish feeding last night. Do you want me to show you where they were?” I replied, “Sure, if you don’t mind.” So, I followed Tom through the hills and Valleys of Vermont. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. To be honest, I consider myself a decent trout fly fisherman and a hack fly tier. I think my best skills are reading water and having a natural understanding of where fish might be. I feel as though I can cast well and I have a solid understand of the fundamental concepts of streamer fishing, nymphing and dry fly fishing. I do spend a lot of time on the water, both fresh and salt, so in many respects my skills are acquired and continue to develop through countless hours on the water. But I certainly lack the skills and experiences associated with the more refined elements of fly fishing and fly tying. That is part of the fun for me. I view fly fishing much like music and each fly fisherman like a musician. Every type of music and musician has their own unique style and skills. Folk singers, classical pianists, rock guitarists, bassists, violinists, drummers and Blue Grass Banjo players are all musicians. They have unique sounds and skills and they all exist and define the collective art of music. Jimmy Hendrix could not read music and he learned to play the guitar upside down and backwards. From a musical theory perspective, he was a mess. But, according to the end result of his sound and the music he composed and played with his guitar he was and still is a legend in the world of rock/blues guitar. Conversely, Mozart and Beethoven are classical music legends. Certainly, these two musicians understood music theory and the rules of music theory to the ‘nth degree and their music is built upon and a reflection of that level of understanding. And, in my mind, that is the beauty of any art. There are rules and a general understanding of what “sounds” good. But, at the same time there are no rules. And, it would be foolish to argue that Bob Dylan is any less of a musician than Mozart and visa versa. And, I don’t know for certain, but most of the musicians I know respect, admire and are humbled by other musicians who follow a different path. This is essentially how I view fly fishing. I am happy and content with my own sound. I am constantly molding and shaping my own piece of artwork. Right now, I enjoy seeing new places, fly fishing for new species, improving on the methods I know, taking photographs and video while on the water. In due time, that might change but I don’t know. Maybe in 5 years I will want to “perfect” the art of fly tying? Maybe in 10 years I will want to deeply understand entomology? Time will tell. But, for now, I can only be where I am at. With that said, I am constantly amazed when I meet other artists. Yes, wehave common understands and skills. But, every fly fisherman I meet has skills that I admire and skills that I do not have. So, while following Tom to the river, I was nervous because I felt kind of intimidated. Tom has been a fly fisherman for over 35 years and was a commercial fly tier by age 14. He has fly fished all over the world and is credited for bringing bead head flies to North America. Tom has 10 fly fishing books in print including The Orvis Fly-Fishing Guide and is a world renowned fly tier. So, for me, this was already shaping up to be an experience to remember. It’s not every day that I get a chance to fly fish with such an accomplished trout fly fisherman and fly tier. We arrived at the stream and the sun was setting. Tom gave me his 8 ½ foot 4 weight fly rod that was already rigged with a 12 foot leader, 6X tippet and a General T fly. The General T is one of Tom’s patterns. “T” is for terrestrial and it has two bumps of brown fur, a brown hackle in the middle and wings made from loops of Midge Krystal Flash. Tom uses it as a flying ant imitation, but says it also works for stuff like bees, house flies, deer flies etc… I stripped line of the reel and looked all around me. “Oh my God”, I thought to myself. “I can already see how this is gonna pan out. I will probably make one cast, get caught up in a tree behind me, snap the leader and lose this guys fly.” The sun was setting quickly and Tom spotted a rising Trout. I knew I had one shot to make it work. If I were to get caught up in a tree, I would have to re-tie and doing so would burn up precious daylight minutes. So, Tom guided me towards the fish. He knew this stream like the back of his hand and instructed me every step of the way. I took a deep breathe and made sure I was acutely aware of my surroundings. I just kept saying, “Jeremy, just focus on the basics. Watch your back casts and just stay calm.” It felt like I was stalking trout and this was relatively new to me. Being from Maine, I typically fly fish on huge river systems and stealth is relative to the size of the water. I realized quickly that I was playing a different game on this stream and with these trout. I had to exercise care in each step, I had no choice but to make upstream casts towards the rising fish and I had to micro manage my line and my drifts. As I started casting I began to feel at ease. Mostly because Tom was laughing and joking with me, as down-to-earth as they come and I could sense that he was equally passionate about this fly fishing situation. So, it really felt as though we were working as friends and as a team. I let a cast go. The fly hit the water; it drifted for a few feet and Bang! I tricked a small wild Rainbow Trout. Tom was excited for me and said, “Wow Jeremy, Great job! That is not easy to do! Many great fly fishermen have been skunked on this water.” Well then my ego sky rocketed and I was on top of the world. Then, just as easily as I was a hero, I became a zero. I worked my way up to the next little pool under Tom’s guidance. He told me exactly where to position myself and exactly where the fish would be. He was right. I made a cast. A really nice fish took my fly but I missed the hook set. I then proceeded to get too excited and sloppy made a huge splash on the water with my line after missing the fish. That was it. I spooked the fish and they never showed themselves again that evening. Tom and I walked off the stream as the sun finally set and it was an experience I will always remember. I won’t soon forget the lessons I learned. Tom told me, “Once you make a cast you are committed to that cast. Even if it is not the perfect cast, finish it out because picking up the line in the middle of the drift spooks the fish.” That makes perfect sense to me now, and I will be working on that. Tom also told me, “Jeremy, when you go back to Maine and find yourself fly fishing for trout and salmon on the big waters; remember to apply these same small stream tactics. You will catch more fish.” So, I drove back to Maine thankful for getting the opportunity to add trout fishing with Tom Rosenbauer to my list of experiences. And, as with every day on the water, I learned something new. If anyone is interested in seeing some of Tom’s fly fishing and fly tying books with illustrated instruction you canfind them here. I highly recommend them.