Serving Breakfast

 Serving Breakfast

6/14/24

 I was planning on leaving camp and going out early kayaking but when I heard on the radio it was suppose to rain I decided to wade fish. I had caught a few trout on Wednesday afternoon but things died off quickly under the hot sun. I had to leave anyhow to get home to do yard work before an early dental appointment Thursday morning. I didn't get back Thursday until late so I didn't get to fish. That left me for this morning, Friday. After I heard it was suppose to rain with a passing thunderstorm this afternoon, I looked outside the camper window and it looked overcast but already getting warm out. I decided to go out where I fished Wednesday till it rains.

 I parked along the side of the road and got my gear together. There wasn't any wind to speak of so I decided to take my G2 Scott for a workout. The medium action rod was made for easy casting dry fly fishing. I knew it would be a much more relaxing casting stroke thnn the fast action rods I've been using because of the windy conditions on the river. I fitted the Allen trout 2 reel, with WF5F line, to the rod seat. I walked down to the water and waded up the bank to the riffling water I figured the trout to be. 

 It was a bit cloudy but signs of sunshine looked to be in the distance and rising above the water. I could feel the cooler water air as I waded up into the riffling water. Most of the river was still shaded but I was hoping once the sun brightened things up maybe the big caddis and sulfurs I've been seeing would show up. (I'll tell you know that never happened.) The water was as clear a gin so I knew once I started to dry fly fish the fish would be able to see my surface fly for some distance away. In the much calmer water downriver the trout would be able to look my dry over longer so I decided to stick with dry fly fishing in the faster current.

 I knotted on a Woolly Bugger and figured that would pass the time till I see a hatch of some kind or at least my first rise. I spent at least a half hour casting the bugger without a strike. I wasn't upset though, it was still early, and I had to be patient that at any moment a trout would rise. There wasn't any bugs on the water though but I kept my hopes up. After the first half hour I finally saw my first rise in the early morning. It was about 8:00 but that's earlier than I had been seeing rises lately fishing the river. I knotted on a small caddis as the rise wasn't more than a small splash upon the surface. I used the small caddis for a few minutes but it was hard to see on the riffling water surface. There were soft calmer water here and there and I tried to concentrate on those areas within the riffling water. I knotted on a #14 tan elk hair caddis but that wasn't convincing any trout either. 

 I've been catching most of the trout on a big blonde elk hair caddis and sulfurs but I haven't saw anything of the sort on or off the water. I had been seeing brown to dark tan caddis dipping and fluttering daily but I didn't try any because they are harder to see within the shaded surface water in the distance. I had a box full of what I call Clarion River Brown Caddis I had tied years ago and had caught many trout and smallmouth back then. They were a bit larger than the caddis I've been seeing but being in the faster current would be easier for the trout to see not being able to inspect it closely. I knotted on one of the #12 CR Brown caddis on to 5x tippet and started to cast it out in the riffles.  

 I was trying to key on the splash I heard upstream. By the time I looked to see where the swirl the fish made was already disguised by the oncoming wavy riffling current. Being I wasn't convincing any trout out in front of me I started to cast upstream trying to locate the rise I heard.

 The early morning began to look fruitless. There wasn't any bugs to speak of though the birds were swooping down now and then as if taking a fly out of mid-air like a soaring seagull being thrown a french fry from a boardwalk rail. There weren't any risers as of yet but I was still hoping that the fish would be wanting breakfast of some sort soon. It was getting near 830 by now. Either the fish are eating breakfast underneath or they are waiting for sunny side up on the surface?

 Continuing to cast the brown caddis I missed my first rise fishing upstream. I was lazy as to let too much slack line between me and my dry. By the time I lifted the rod to set the hook some of my fly line never cleared the water. Being that a trout actually rose to my caddis gave me more confidence and awareness.

 I was blind casting to nowhere in particular when a trout rose to my caddis and I was jerry on the spot. I quickly flipped my wrist up and pulled in line to set the hook. The swirl on the water surface became splashes from a fooled fish. After the surface commotion he went under and took off, with my line attached, like a hot rod on a drag strip. I wasn't sure how far he was going but there was no stopping him. The 'ole G2 was bowed in the middle as line was being pulled through the eyes. It was if he was taking dead game back to the den of hungry cubs. He slowed down, and almost stopped, that I was able to start playing him towards me and reel in some line. He put up a good scramble in the oncoming current before I got him close enough to net. He didn't want any part of the net as he escaped my attempts a few times but didn't come unhooked. I finally got him in the net and saw this brown trout looking back at me, with my caddis hanging out of its mouth, with the expression of 'how dare you interrupt my breakfast?"

 I'm not sure if it was the commotion he stirred up underwater or some fish rang the breakfast triangle bell. All of a sudden there were more fish rising as water boiled at times in different areas. Not consistently but they were rising for breakfast and I had a special for them.

 The second trout that came for breakfast was a fat rainbow. I didn't know if he was expecting an omelette buffet but he he attacked my breakfast caddis with a rising take. I reared back the G2 immediately. The slack line came off the water and straightened. The trout took off away and down with the current. I let him take tension line off the spool till he was distant enough from me. He tried getting himself loose with jarring head shakes and antics underwater that caused the rod to flex and line slap the water with each jolt. I got him coming my way after a time as he fought his way towards me. Being careful with 5x tippet I didn't hurry him. I scooped him up while he slapped the surface water in front of me. A nice fat rainbow had my breakfast caddis just hanging from the side of his mouth like a piece of egg stuck on a baby's cheek.

  It's always a good challenge to make a long cast to a feeding trout. I watched a big brown trout rise, with his back skimming the surface, slurping something on the water. He came up rarely but I knew he was out there. I dried off my caddis and shook it in dry fly powder. I wanted my presentation to be perfect not scaring him on the first cast. I was false casting, letting line out, when a trout rose half the distance to the brown trout I was after. I already had enough line out and sidearm casted leaving my fly line behind my caddis so my offering was the first thing the trout saw. The deer hair wing stood straight up so I knew it would be hard to miss seeing. A trout rose as inconspicuous as I ever saw a trout rise. It was just a small swirl that would have been undetected if I wasn't able to see the caddis wing. I actually laughed at the sight as if he didn't want any other trout to know he was eating like a talented kid stealing a deviled egg behind his mothers back while she was still making breakfast! He turned out to be larger than I expected. He was in no hurry to be netted and when I got him close enough he had me spinning around in circles trying to net him. In the net I swear he looked at me wondering if I was going to take him back to camp or let him go? He didn't have to worry about me taking him back to camp.

  I started false casting to get my offering to the big brown again. I know my first couple of casts drifted the caddis within his sight. I tried dropping the caddis right on his head and still nothing. I tried an egg laying caddis and I couldn't see anything as if he was inspecting it. It was if he left the vicinity to eat breakfast somewhere else though I was the only one out serving breakfast this morning. I had no more recipes up my sleeve. I brought in the line and looked down river. I don't usually give up on surface trout but he had me beat.

 I noticed three risers down river. I waded back to knee deep water and waded down within casting distance. I gave a sidearm cast and stopped my cast quickly pulling back slightly. This brought my caddis sweeping above the surface water then all of a sudden, when I stopped and pulled back, the caddis whizzed passed the fly line and leader and dropped in calmer water with slack line behind. The caddis drifted across the calmer pocket and started to enter riffling water caused by unseen rocks of some size. A trout attacked my caddis as if from the side. I was following the drift with my rod tip and when the trout struck I pulled the rod back over my opposite shoulder to set the hook. He evidently didn't like his lip being pierced and after going under he came up out of the water and shook his body, like a wet dog, trying to shake the piercing. I was then able to see I had another fat rainbow. He plopped in the water, made a short run and broke through the surface again half a body worth splashing water in all directions. Back underneath he gave a head shake, swam a short distance and again broke the surface showing his full body airborne. He didn't shake the line as aggressively the last time and splashed down like doing a cannon ball off a diving board. Truthfully I don't mind trout rising out of the water as such. I figure it just tires them out faster. He took line out but gave in to the resistance quickly. I got him coming my way like a dog on a retractable leash. He gave a few head shakes now and then trying to swim away but I didn't give him any line and he turned my way quickly.

 

 Well, I thought the last tow rainbows were fat, the next one that took my caddis was fatter yet. He gave me a long hard battle and getting him netted was no easy task.

 I needed a break and hung my fly on the rod hook rest.I took a swaller or two of water and looked at the time. It was just after 10. It was clearing up some and I was hoping for a hatch even though I was having fun serving breakfast. One thing for sure, when trout are feeding on the surface, when there isn't a hatch to speak of, my offerings appear to be more appetizing. Let's face it, if you go out for breakfast and they're out of pancakes, waffles and French toast you'll have to settle for eggs of some sort and a slice of toast. I pulled out a RP Sun Grown from my vest pocket and lit it.

 There wasn't anything rising that I noticed. I figured there had to be more hungry trout out there that wanted surface breakfast. I casted out concentrating on the calmer water down river from the faster riffles. The calmer water was still flowing with subtle riffling water in spots. The next few trout came up as if they were waiting to be served breakfast in bed. They just slurped the caddis up as if they were being hand fed. Once hooked though they put up an angry argument like their toasted breakfast egg sandwich didn't taste right to their satisfaction.

 

 I fished a little longer and caught a few smaller trout. I had to get propane before heading back to camp. Since things were tapering off I decided to wade out and up to my truck. On the way up to my truck the air got a little chillier and I noticed the cloud cover was getting heavier. I got to the tuck just before it started to sprinkle raindrops. 

 After getting propane I was planning on coming back and serving lunch but by that time the sky opened up and heavy big raindrops were falling.

 I was glad I got up and served breakfast early.

~doubletaper