Slump Busters
10/14/26
Brown trout like wet flies!
Let me start off by saying I’ve been in a slump of not hooking up and not bringing any fish to the net. This includes trout or smallmouth I fish in the river. I suppose it’s like a professional baseball player coming to bat each game and not getting a hit. This has been going on for the past few outings.
They had stocked the creek I was wanting to fish on October 1st. It’s a fly fishing only catch-and-release. While camping around 45 minutes away I visited this stream twice later on and couldn’t hook up at all. Another day I visited, driving from home, and fouled hooked one and missed a grab on a streamer. I went 0 hits in 3 different outing spending at least 5 hours each day.
I tried everything from nymphs, dry flies, streamers, sucker spawn and imitation terrestrials without a hook up. Not that I saw any of the other fishermen hook up but I felt, with my experience, I would do better! Sure the water has been pretty clear and low level conditions but there are deeper pockets and plenty of faster water to fish. On the 14th I decided I was going back out there and was determined to hook up at least once!!
It was an overcast, gray sky kind of day. Autumn came early as the trees changed their leaf colors that seamed like all at once. The colorful landscape around was pleasant. With that the gusts of wind played a part in blowing the more fragile leaves off the branches and limbs to the earth. This amounted to surface, as well as beneath, to hamper the drift of whatever I decided to offer the fish. Just getting my offerings between the floating Leaves was a challenge in itself.
It had rained the evening before and overnight. I was right in thinking the water would be a bit discolored just enough to maybe disguised my leader from any line shy trout. The water level didn’t appear to rise any. Being this was a tail out, from an over the wall dam, I didn’t expect it to rise much. As far as the water temperature it was well below ‘too warm to fish’ conditions.
I assembled my 4 piece, 4 weight Session rod and attached my Hardy reel with double taper line. I put on my waist wader, fly vest and grabbed a few cigars and my custom made trout net. I had everything to offer the trout in my vest pockets and was determined to use every last one of them to hook up to a trout.
At the water edge I was able to see some oblong shapes of trout below the surface but it had dirtied up from the rain as I thought it would. The sun was barely shining through the overcast conditions which didn’t appear to effect the dirty water much. I started out with a couple of nymphs but switched to streamers within a few minutes after not getting a take on the nymphs. Well, the streamers, Wooly Buggers and Triple Threats weren’t drawing any attention either that I could tell. I did have the whole section of water to myself and slowly waded, fishing this upper section of the project area from the beginning wire to the section that got too deep to wade. Let’s just say I spent hours of casting. I kind of felt like a baseball player, at the batting cages, dreaming about getting a hit in a ballgame and breaking the slump.
It wasn’t long after I started fishing rain feel down like a heavy mist from the sky. It blanketed the whole area that it almost looked foggy down stream. I went back up to my truck and put on my light rain jacket as it was still in the 60 degrees temperature wise. Without any takers in the past hours I pulled out another cigar and thought about the situation. How can I not hook up with at least one stupid trout that have been stocked just 13 days ago?
As I recall, according to the stocking schedule, the state had stocked the creek with brown trout. In all my experience I have caught more brown trout on wet flies than anything else I have offered them in tough conditions. I knotted on a wet fly and dropped a beaded nymph below. I lit my cigar and was going to intimidate them, once and for all, with a wet fly.
Up near the deeper wavy riffles, I stood on the bank, and dropped my offerings, under and indicator, up in the wavy water and high-sticked it down in front of me and beyond. On one occasion, as I was bringing the line towards me, watching my indicator dragging the surface towards me, when I saw a trout rise to my offerings. It must have snapped at, one or the other, at least 4 or five times. I gave another cast up stream and watched the same thing happen again as I was bringing the line in again. Without hooking up I decided to remove the indicator and try high-sticking my offerings. Being the water was kind of deep I added a small split shot to make sure my nymph drug near bottom while my wet fly drifted mid-level. It took a while but I finally got a good strike, at the end of the drift, and my first trout was fighting the line. The 4 weight rod bowed good as the trout took off across creek. It was a battle as I was fighting the heavy fish on 4lb test. He went up towards the bridge of surface rocks that caused the riffling water but turned downstream with the resistance of the rod. Upon him going down creek, with force, the Hardy reel clicked out line, like the rhythmic tapping of a woodpecker against a hollow tree trunk! I slowly walked the bank down creek some to calmer water getting a better place to net this angry trout.
Initially, I was able to see I had a good hook up in his mouth but down creek he must have rolled and now, as he swam up and across creek, it was if I had him by the tail. This made it extra hard getting him to me but I prevailed and netted him safely. I found my bottom nymph had him by the tail but my dry fly, the top fly, was hooked in the inside of his mouth. After dislodging the tail hook up I got the nice brown trout turned in my favorite and unhooked the wet fly from his mouth! What a bruiser of a brown trout!
My slump was over! The initial hook up was a fair ball with the tail hook as an error for extra bases. Whatever, The slump was over.
After releasing the brown trout I just knotted on two different wet flies. I left the small split shot pinched about 12” from the top fly, and without an indicator, decided to fish this way till my cigar burns to the nub.
On occasion, and throughout the day, trout would rise here and there as if taking emergers. When I see fish splashing the surface, rather than sipping, I feel they are taking emergers as they rise to the surface before the emerging fly flies off. There wasn’t anything apparent I could see drifting on the surface and the only thing I saw flying about, rarely, was small midges in the 20 hook size range or smaller. I did try a small dry fly earlier but couldn’t get any takers. Most of the fish rising lately were down stream in the shallower riffling water. I slowly made my way towards them casting across creek as I stopped and go, and let the wet flies drift down creek. On one occasion I saw a trout come towards my offering but refused it. On another occasion, before I got to the shallower riffles, I felt a tug of a take and yanked the rod for the hook set. The trout took off up creek and I knew I had him by the mouth. He fought tooth and nail but I kept side pressure on him and tired him out till he swam down creek in defeat. It wasn’t that tough bringing him towards me and getting him in the net.
Another real nice brown.
Upon releasing him he was pretty worn out. I faced him upstream to get fresh water through his gills and when I felt him revive I let him go. He took off slowly but was upright swimming towards the deeper water. With him taking the brighter top wet fly I had confidence I had two wet flies that the hungry trout couldn’t resist.
Down creek I casted up in the riffles and kept the rod high so as not to let the fly line drag too much before me pulling my offering too quickly downstream. Once they drifted down creek some I would drop the rod and near the end of the drift raise it slightly to let the wet flies rise. I kept the split shot on even though the water was shallower risking a bottom snag.
Watching my fly line it took off up creek and I knew I had another taker. As soon as I set the hook, the line tightened and the trout turned and took off down creek as if he was propelled with the help of the strong current. Battling a trout in shallow water I feel is more intensifying than in deeper water. I feel the riffling, wavy surface current causes more erratic line fluctuation than a straight line fight in a deeper pool. Anyhow I had a good battle getting him here to the net safely.
He was a nice bruiser of a brown trout.
Keeping on for some time, with the wet fly combination, I noticed a few rises way across creek that looked a tad deeper. The problem with casting over there was a semi-surface bolder, between me and there, a bit downstream causing a back eddy and swirling water behind it. Again, the risk was possible but the opportunity for a hook up was more overbearing!
I landed my cast just upstream and just beyond the boulder. My floating line caught in the back eddy not knowing what would become of my offering below. Just then I saw my floating line pull up creek and I reared the rod back, pulling in slack line, for the hook set. At first you would of thought I had a bottom snag or caught the semi-surface boulder as the line lifted off the water and the 4 weight bowed as if the line was stuck to the rock, but no! The line took off up and away and I could feel I had a monster on the other end. He tugged harshly and swam around in the distance with frantic pulling and tugging. The 4 weight flexed and arced with each tug as I held tension on the fly line. Maybe, as he felt he wasn’t getting away at this point, he turned down creek and decided to take the battle to a different area. The line cut through the surface water, missing the semi-surface boulder, and continued down creek. The Hardy reel clicked loudly as line pulled out and through the rod eyes. The trout didn’t stop till he was well in deeper slower current downstream. There he put up a good fight while I was able to reel in line when I felt comfortable to do so. (I didn’t want a bunch of line floating around when I got him near me.)
He, we, put on a good fighting show should have anyone be watching. He splashed around now and then and I was patient enough not to force him in. Once I felt the tension of the line ease up between my fingers I started to bring him up creek against his will. Once in the shallower water he wasn’t all the grateful. He started splashing water around like he was drowning and didn’t know how to swim. By now I figured I had a real good hook set and kind of laughed to myself even though I knew something could go wrong. I slowly waded to a deeper portion of water and slowly forced him towards me. He swam down creek but was unable to convince me to give him more distance. All in all I had him coming to the net and scooped him in. Wow, another bruiser of a brown trout!!
He was pretty worn out so it took some time to get the energetic life back into him. I took my time facing him upstream getting a good flow of water through his mouth and gills. Once I felt a good tail swat, as I held him by the neck in front of his tail fin, I let go and he calmly swam into the current.
Now, though they just stocked this 13 days ago this is a catch-and-release area. I’m not sure how big of brown trout they stocked but usually the freshly stocked brown trout have white belly’s and not as much a pronounced body pattern. Besides that I never known them to stock a bunch of big brown trout in a project area not specified as a trophy trout section. Wherever these big brown trout come from they looked well fed and had the energy of well trained fighters.
My cigar was almost to the nub so there wasn’t much time left for my exit. My arms could feel the cold wetness from the constant sprinkling of rain and I could feel the temperature getting a bit colder. I was thinking one more catch or if I get snagged up on the bottom I’ll call it a day.
It just so happen that I got snagged up and broke off. I reeled in my empty line and strolled back to the truck. I took time to dress into street clothes and put on a warm sweatshirt while the truck heated up under the fine misty rain.
The slump was over. I was as happy as a league leader in hits and RBI’s!
~doubletaper
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