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3. Evening On the River

I finally got my dad to go fly fishing with me at the Cranberry Lake Dam. We had been camping since Friday morning on Glasby Pond. I caught one brook trout, that was it. We left early and after dinner went to Cranberry to fly fish below the dam.

The river was stocked recently, and I could see schools of trout with my shades but they were rising/jumping at flies readily all over the place.

We got positioned above the first bridge and caught many small brookies, along with some browns. All were probably around six inches or so, but we didn't measure.

My dad even accidentally caught one brown on a long backcast, it must have jumped clear out of the water!

After that we headed out into the rapid water and fished the seams on the other side. I caught a foot or so brown, my largest on a fly rod. I was sooo excited and almost lost it a few times, as I was in some very fast water trying to get a hold of this fish without a net (left it at home)

Around 9 I closed up the night by catching a 14 or so inch brown which I never excpected, it was right in with the smaller guys and I was five feet from it when I caught it. By that time I couldn't even see the fly and it was a lucky hookset, too.

My dad said he had an absolute blast, and would like to go again. I had even more fun.

We had literally over 100 strikes!

...and landed probably 25 - 30. We ended up keeping five trout which were in bad condition - bleeding from the gills, one that had previously been fighting or foulhooked, etc.

All in all the most amazing fly fishing trip I have ever had, and I definitely plan on going back next week!

Good for you! Sounds like you had a nice time which is all thats important. Don't fish your spot too much though or you'll clean it out!!

Oh, it'll get over-fished in no time. There were a dozen or so other people fishing there that came and went in the time we were there, its a very popular spot

-the part I thought was great is that all of the bait fisherman were getting skunked! There was even a fly fisherman there who I didn't see land one, so I guess my skill is improving a bit.

"...the part I thought was great is that all of the bait fisherman were getting skunked!"

Ah ha, you've discovered the secret! I've been there and done that many times. You will discover that the fly rod is the most effective fishing method in many situations, perhaps because you can imitate anything from a tiny midge to a big fat mouse or sculpin with it. I've done this on panfish many times, and sometimes the bait fishermen can't resist asking, "What are you using?" I also once saw a rather blowhard spinner fisherman get humbled by a trout stream hatch, found him sitting on the bank with a confused look on his face. "I couldn't get anything." I couldn't resist pulling a couple of nice fish out of my creel and cleaning them right in front of him (this was back in my youth when I was still killing fish)...

A few days ago two fly fisherman were finishing up as I was getting in on the Rifle River. We chatted for a while, exchanging "fishing intel" such as hatches, what worked for them, etc. One fellow remarked, "There aren't that many fly fishers around here, they all seem to be worm dunkers." To which we all agreed, they're missing out on the fun! Which for me that day turned out to be 21 trout (see my post).

Well done, man, and it gets easier. Wait until you get into some nice wild fish in a place you have all to yourself!

Jonathon

That's awesome man that the bait guys were gettin' skunked!!

Went this afternoon with a nine year old boy from my church and again this evening with my dad. We made out like bandits, including three bigger ones around 12-14 inches. Aiden, the 9 yr old almost got a larger one, but he was too rough and it snapped the tippet at the fly. Big bummer but sometimes the fish win :)

This evening I caught my largest brown yet, probably around 14 inches or so, but maybe closer to 16 or 18. Its hard to tell because we didn't measure them. In that case, I'm sure it was 22 inches ;)

It fought great, took me quite a while to get it in because of the rapids - so much fun and SCARED I was going to lose it. My hands were shaking when I finally got it in! It took seven or so runs, just wouldn't give up!

Then my dad hooked one from the same mid-river seam. He was downstream and managed to get it right to him, but probably should have let it run a little longer as it snapped the line right when he tried grabbing it. Fish, 1 - Dad, 0
-But it was fun!

And once again... ...the worm dunkers, 0 ;)

FOM;

Were you fishing dries. nymphs, or wets?

All dries. Mostly reverse deer hair caddis in tan and green. They love the little buggers! Plus some Adams and also the fly in my profile pic, they liked that the first night as there were some mayflies out with the exact same tail.

The fly guide I am learning from is pretty much a dry purist I think, and I'm not so sure I'm not headed that way myself. That is, until I fish a river where there's not 500 stocked brookies jumping two feet out of the water the whole time you're fishing!