SMF the Fourth

Back to the "Stream Most Fished" for the fourth time this year.

A quarter inch of rain guaranteed easy fishing conditions. Water levels were up at least 6", maybe a foot, and a milky translucence had replaced the near crystal clarity of my last visit. Even the big, previously glassy-smooth pools now had a bit of turbulence.

Ironically, despite the very different conditions, my day started the same as Monday.... on the second cast into a big pool, a nice fish took my bead head nymph, leaped into the air, and shook the hook.

Then my luck changed, as I proceeded to catch about dozen dace over a couple of dozen casts. That's the biggest problem with fishing nymphs in some of these streams. The dace will rarely rise to a dry, but all of these big pools in NJ hold dace along the bottom, and they will compete with the trout when it comes to taking a small nymph.

After what seemed like forever, I finally landed a fat 9" rainbow in the faster water towards the head of the pool. Then a 10" brown on the following cast, then a small bow a few casts later. But then it was over.

I decided to walk back to the big pool I'd missed Monday, the one with the bikini-clad teens. This is the deepest pool in the entire stream: the current drops over a 2' ledge, plunges into a deep pocket, then runs along the far bank. This part of the stream, today, was running 3 to 4' deep. But the center of the stream, below the ledge and on the near side of the current, broadens into a deep bowl, perhaps 8 feet deep, and 20 feet in diameter. There's virtually no current in the bowl: just the gentlest back eddy when the water's high like today.

On a normal day you can see the bottom of the bowl. Usually it's empty, though on rare occasions you see fish in it, and once I saw a HUGE trout holding there. Today it was just a milky mystery.

But the main current along the far bank is usually where the action is. There the bottom is rocky, so it provides lots of good structure for good trout to hold. I almost always pull in at least one nice fish from this pool, and on a good day you can spend half an hour here and take 7 or 8. There's a gravel bar that splits the bowl from the main pool, which provides a place to stand while fishing the far bank. The biggest challenge, apart from the varying current lanes, and some back eddies that often hold fish, is dealing with the tree canopy which overhangs much of the pool, forcing you to side-arm every cast.

I had just started working a nice little pool immediately downstream from the main pool, when another fisherman emerged from the mist. In a 100 visits to this stream, I've probably seen only 8 or 10 fishermen over that entire span, so it's always a surprise when I run into someone, especially on a weekday. He was a fit, late-60-something guy, who greeted me, and asked if I'd fished the big pool. When I said I was just about to, I could see the disappointment flash across his face, but he immediately and graciously agreed to walk upstream. We chatted for a few minutes, then he moved on and I started fishing the big pool.

For the next half hour I thought the joke was on me. I must have thrown 50 casts into the areas that normally hold fish without a single strike on my bead head. I worked the tail to the head from the gravel bar. Then came up to the ledge, and worked the plunge pool on a short line.

Nothing.

Then I had the good sense to tie on a bead head wooly bugger, a classic streamer (or as the Brits would say) a "lure". Still obsessed with the main current I tossed a couple of casts down and across the tongue of the pool, and was rewarded with a short strike. Finally some sign of life! But several dozen more casts delivered nothing more.

Finally, since I was standing right on top of it, I decided to explore the deep bowl. The bugger sank pretty well, so I could toss a cast across, wait for it to sink, then strip it in. On the first cast I felt a strike, saw a fish flash deep, then spit my fly. Holy shit, they were in the bowl!

It was tricky fishing, because in the slow bowl, the strikes were gentle. I missed a couple of fish more, then finally pulled in a fat 10" rainbow. Then a succession of two or three smaller fish.

Then a fish rose toward the tail of the main current. I'd covered that area with the bead head, without luck, but now a fish was feeding. It was a tricky long cast with my light rod and the heavy bugger under the tree limbs, but on the second attempt I got off a long enough cast for the fly to swing through the area where the fish had risen. The strike was a strong jolt through my taught fly line. Another nice 10 incher!

Between the bowl and the tail, I probably landed two more fish, then moved downstream.

For the next 45 mintues I fished the smaller pools and pockets with the streamer. It was fairly slow, thought there was one fish in particular where I could see my streamer drifting across the current lane, and the fish leave its lie and slam my fly. An 8" brown. Great fun!

Overall, a totally satisfying day, especially as I thoroughly enjoyed the novelty of fishing streamers here. In my hundred visits, this is the only time I can remember using them.