Black Flies and Trout Fishing

(as published in the Mountain Gazette, June 20, 2013, p. 10)

Like baseball and football, fly fishing has its own season. The forest browns turn into green. The days grow longer. Your senses know the trout will soon be rising for the fly. An annual May fishing trip only adds to this normal level of seasonal anticipation.

Snowmelt in May on the West Branch of the Ausable

Once again, my dad, brother, and cousin met at the end of May to fish the West Branch of the Ausable in Wilmington, NY. Unlike last year, the trout seemed better educated this year, while our casting should probably have repeated a grade. I shouldn’t include my cousin, Jim Boucher, in that statement. Jim is a good fly fisherman and has guided us to some nice fish the last couple of years.

Normally the West Branch of the Ausable runs about 700 cubic feet per second. When we hit the river on Friday morning, the river was running at over 2,000 cubic feet per second. That’s a lot of water, but not as much as earlier in the week when the river was running at almost 10,000 cubic feet per second. Why so much water? You’ll recall that with the big storm the end of May

that ruined so many local roads and driveways also dumped over 13 inches of snow on Mount Mansfield. Well the same storm dumped 3 feet of snow on Whiteface Mountain. The Ausable is right beneath Whiteface, hence the increased flow.

When I first stepped in the river, my first thought was that if my 10-year old nephew Jack had come…whoosh, there’d go Jack down the river. As it was, wading was tough. The water was a refreshing 54 degrees, but would heat up to a boiling 57 degrees by the end of the weekend.

Our compensation for the high, fast water was that the black flies were out in full force. When I go fly fishing I can usually outfit several people. I will bring extra waders, an extra rod, reel; you get the idea. You’d think I would have brought at least one mesh head net, but nope. Luckily, the black flies liked chewing on my brother Kirk much more than they liked me. Poor Kirk. It certainly adds flavor to the experience. (Jim said that the black flies didn’t bother him. A day later, with bite welts on both sides of his neck, Jim clarified. He reiterated that the flies did not bother him, but added that he never said they didn’t bite him.) Basically, Friday beat us up. No wonder that my dad and Kirk didn’t want to go out fishing again after dinner.

Jim and I were game to return to the river to fish at dusk. We stepped out of the truck after arriving at a likely spot…and the black flies attacked. At Jim’s suggestion, I tied on a “usual” fly. It’s called a usual because it usually works. As the flies feasted we fished. It’s funny, the flies don’t bother you as much when you catch some fish. 

Jim had put me in a good spot where we could see at least two trout rising. I managed to catch (and release) them both. The “usual” did not disappoint – and I probably would not have selected it without Jim’s suggestion.

So where’s the picture? I knew my dad and brother would not believe I caught anything, so the first thing I did upon bringing my first fish to net was to take a picture with my iPhone, which was in a zip-lock baggie. You can see the fish, but the photo won’t win any awards.

Sherdan and Jim trying to find less educated trout

Saturday started out with more of the same, biting black flies and no fish. Jim loves to fish, but he always tries to put us each in a good position to catch fish. I had my opportunity Friday night and that was it for me catching fish. Dad caught his fish Saturday morning.

Kirk almost hung it up after that morning. His waders were leaking and his feet were wet and cold. The black flies continued to torment him and he wasn’t getting as much as a strike. It is amazing how much better the world looks when you are well fed and back in dry clothes. Kirk’s second effort in the afternoon (in new, waterproof waders) got him his trout.

Kirk lands a nice rainbow trout

Once we had our fish, Jim went to work. He caught 5 or 6 nice rainbows. I believe they were trained fish who recognized him, recently released hatchery fish, or otherwise gullible, easy fish left over from last year. Jim certainly highlighted the fact that there were fish in the river, high water or not, and they could be caught.

  

While trout fishing comes each year to the North Country, no two seasons are the same. My dad and I told my brother, “You should have been here last year.” “You should be here next year” also applies. The only way to make sure you are on the river when the conditions are perfect is to make sure you are on the river consistently. This is true even when “consistently” means the one family trip each year. Happy days afield.

Send me your best game camera photos with some background information – general area the picture taken (unless it is a trophy animal), time of year, etc. I’ll include the best ones in to the Mountain Gazette over the next several issues.

Please visit www.sportingafield.blogspot.com for more news, musings, and interviews or to leave questions or comments.

Old man vs. Stony Man

Last weekend I decided to take a drive out to Shenandoah National Park to do some hiking.  My goal was to hike to the summit of Stony Man mountain, then continue hiking along the Appalachian Trail ("AT").  I saw a beautiful photo taken from Stony Man in Backpacker magazine and was hoping to get a picture or two using my iPhone.

The signs are right "Watch for Deer"

I won't bore you with stories of DC-area traffic...coming and going, but will say that you have to love getting out to the country to suffer the traffic.  I guess you take the bad with the good.

It was a relatively cloudy day, so I knew my visibility would be limited.  What I did not know or could not recall knowing was how high some of the mountains are in the Park.  Stony Man is just over 4,000 feet, only about 300 feet shorter than Mt. Mansfield in Vermont.  The summits of each mountain are very different.  There is no tree line on Stony Man like the one on Mt. Mansfield.  It was about 10 degrees cooler on the summit of Stony Man than in the valley.  I'll take cooler, even if it is only 10 degrees!

A sneaker-friendly trail

The other big difference between the peaks of Shenandoah National Park and Vermont is that Virginia has Skyline Drive which runs along the peaks and is parallel to the AT through the Park.  I recall reading that FDR's Administration had a similar proposal regarding building a Skyline Drive in Vermont that would run along the backbone of the Green Mountains, but that Vermont - then being very independent and wary of too much government intrusion - rejected the idea.  Virginia's mountains are more accessible than Vermont's, but something is lost when you can just drive right up to a high peak.

I know something is lost because that's how I began my hike, driving to a parking lot just south of Stony Man's summit.  Fortunately, there were many other trails, because the hike to the summit was not too long or too challenging.  It was, however, a great place to eat lunch.

Hiker looking down on the clouds

There was a front moving in while I sat at the summit and ate my ham and cheese sandwich.  Luckily, the clouds below did offer some nice views.  It wasn't as breathtaking as the photo I had seen in Backpacker magazine, but still pretty impressive.

I'd love to plan a nice long hike along the AT, but I'd need a free weekend to do it.  I'd have to stay down close to the Park to insure I could get an early start.  Perhaps later this summer.

Another first for me happened on my hike.  As soon as I got back to the car, it started to rain.  It really rained...and I was done and sitting in a dry car.  It was a nice almost end to the day.  I still had the traffic to fight as I got closer to DC.

another view from the summit

another another view

A Quick Spring, Family Fishing, Hiking, and Bullwinkle (the moose) Permits

(as published in the Mountain Gazette, June 6, 2013)

I saw spring come to Jericho all in a couple of minutes. While my statement is true, it was with the help of my Bushnell Game Camera. This past Monday I retrieved the memory card from my game camera. There were only about 500 photos on the card, but I was able to see the trees leaf out and the ferns come up right before my eyes. It was pretty neat to see how quickly everything happened over the span of a few days.

                                                           

The first week in June I’ll be joining my dad and brothers for a fishing trip on the West Branch of the Ausable River in New York.  While we try to get together every year, it seldom works out that way. This is our second year on Ausable, and we hope to have the full complement this year.

We tried, several years ago, to fish a couple of different rivers in Vermont, but the trout seemed to be too intelligent to be caught in any number. Being the opportunists that we are, we figured we’d have better luck out of state where the fish weren’t so educated. This year my younger brother was thinking of bringing his son Jack.  Jack is almost 11. It would be wonderful to have Jack participate in our fish-trip tradition. That and we can tell him stories, some real about his dad. Unfortunately, Jack has never fly fished and where we are going you can only fish with a single hook, artificial fly – no bait. So…now Jack isn’t going because my brother thinks he’ll be too bored – which is probably right (and Jack’s friend is having a birthday party, which is more attractive than fishing with old guys). How do you get kids interested in family outdoor traditions and keep them from going crazy with boredom?

It seems to me that you first need to get your junior outdoor partner interested in the activity or event. This begins by building up anticipation for what will happen. Talk up past trips and stories. This gets them excited about participating. Involve them in the planning. Ask them what they want to do, within parameters of the trip. If the trip involves certain skills, make sure the child has mastered the basics before you leave. Once they have reached some level of proficiency, consider treating them to a new or upgraded piece of equipment – some new tackle, reel, fishing vest, or fishing boat. OK, start small. No boat.

Encouraging kids to get involved in outdoor activities can take some time and patience, but it can be rewarding for years to come. It is also important to recognize that hunting and fishing isn’t for everyone. You don’t have to hunt or fish to enjoy the outdoors or to participate in some way in family traditions. Be content if you can get your child to accompany you fishing, even if she wants to sit on a rock and watch the birds eat the hatch, rather than match the hatch.

So let’s get your kids outside.  Why not start with participating in National Trails Day^®? American Hiking Society's National Trails Day^® is the country's largest celebration of trails. Mark your 2013 calendar for June 1^st to make sure you don't miss out on the thousands of National Trails Day^® activities happening all over the country. Events include hikes, biking and horseback rides, paddling trips, birdwatching, geocaching, gear demonstrations, stewardship projects and more.  There are 11 events planned in Vermont this year, with four just a short drive away.  For more information, please see  http://www.americanhiking.org/national-trails-day/

Time to sign up for your moose permit. Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department has proposed 355 moose hunting permits for the regular October 19-24 moose season and 50 permits for an archery moose season October 1-7. More information and an application can be found at http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/hunttrap_mooselottery.cfm.

Happy days afield. Please visit www.sportingafield.blogspot.com for more news, musings, and interviews or to leave questions or comments.