May 13th - Exploring

It is always a pleasure to explore the tributaries of any trout stream. It's easy to spook trout that dash away from you quickly as you wade through such small flows.

There is a certain liberty gained when the annual Hendrickson hatch finally comes to an end. As fun as it is to experience this signature mayfly emergence, there is also a degree of anxiety that comes along with it. Will the river be too high? Too cold? Will the bugs emerge in the section of river I hope to fish? Will another angler be in "my" spot. The list goes on. We put a lot of demands on an ephemeral bug that simply desires to procreate and expire. And we put a lot of worry into making the most of it.

With the Hendrickson's behind us, it was time to simply go fishing and do some exploring. The 13th was a beautiful day to do so. Water levels were still a bit high, flowing about 1100 cfs but it was warm, and the wind was but a zephyr. Why not get out and give it a go, even if the planned all day excursion was truncated to a few precious afternoon and evening hours?

Right away, signs were good. A fish a friend of mine and I have come to call "Big Head" rose in his showy way a couple times. There were mayfly spinners dancing about. Not Hendrickson's but a mixed bag of paraleps and invaria (the larger sulfur) as far as I could tell. Unfortunately, Big Head was not in a mood to play, and I settled instead for a steadily rising fish a bit downstream. It took my clipped wing rusty spinner (size 16) not once, but twice. And I missed the strike not once, but twice. When I tiptoed downstream to another riser it was clear that I wasn't going to make it without a soaking so that put an end to a fun bit of frustration.

Moving on to a spot I had yet to fish this season, I was pleased to see fish rising with pleasant frequency and those same spinners dancing above the river, with the occasional bug landing on the water. Each one that I saw alight wound up in the mouth of a waiting trout. It's been a while since I last fished this location and the substrate had changed, as it will do from time to time. I found that out when I sunk up to my knees in muck. And as I did this, the trout moved a few feet upstream. Why is it that even the smallest brook trout seems to know the range of an individual anglers casting ability and is able to move accordingly? After the fish made a second upstream move and I decided that chasing a six-inch trout that I wasn't going to catch lacked a degree of dignity, I gave up. Was that less dignifying?

Having been bested by a handful of mainstem brookies I decided that this would be a great day to blue line and explore one of the rivers tribs. It was a genuine pleasure to wade the firm gravel bottom of the trib I chose to fish. It was a little less pleasurable to watch fish after fish scoot ahead of me before I was able to put in a cast. But there were fish and when I came to a pool of sorts, I stopped moving and waited. It didn't take long for the fish to show themselves and soon enough a little 6-inch brookie came to hand. I love trout like this because each one is a jewel. I put it back and decided to get off the water for a bit.

The last hour before dark brought a very nice rise of trout. What to, I could not tell. I tried a spinner similar to the one that moved a couple fish earlier in the day and then began the guessing game. Go a size smaller. Maybe they are eating emergers since I saw one or two sulfurs. Nope. Try a different profile. Try a sulfur since I saw a fish eat one. Try a caddis when another fish ate one of those. And on it went until I said to hell with it and went up in size, to a 12 Battenkill Flats. I caught the last two fish that were rising. A couple brookies of typical Battenkill size and spunk. I have no idea why they decided that this was the fly to eat but I won't complain.

Having seen a couple sulfurs, I would expect that these little fellows (a big 16) will begin to show in greater numbers over the next couple weeks. The March Browns should also be making their presence known. Not in a big way but fish will still take a size 12 tan Klinkhammer. And with caddis now on, swinging a wet fly in the riffles (particularly in the mornings) is always a good way to go.

The forecast looks pretty good, and the river should continue to recede from the persistent high flows we have seen this season. It is going to be a great time to explore waters old and new as we move from the Hendrickson's to the sulfurs.