greenghost
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2008
- Messages
- 1,510
TIME: 2:30 to 7:00
WEATHER: Heavy overcast. Cool 61 degrees.
FISH CAUGHT: Many, many wild browns. A few smaller rainbows.
FLIES USED: Green Drake dry, Sulphur dry size 16, March Brown dry size 12, Sulphur emerger size 14
A truly epic day. I rarely fish the George Harvey Section of Spruce because too much of the water is really tight and branched into smaller sections. But I thought I'd stopped by the on the way home from the jam just to check it out. Pulled into the lot at 2:30. Only one other car was there. Thinking I'd fish for an hour or so, I walked down the path to the water. I was stunned to see such a wide variety of bugs in such a short stretch of water. Looking up and down the riffle I saw Green Drakes, Sulfurs, March Browns, caddis and BWOs. Better yet, trout were rising everywhere. You hear what a great Class A Spruce Creek once was but has gone downhill? No way. To see the numbers of rises in a short run made me a believer again. The only tricky part was trying to figure out what the trout were eating, each seemed to be focused on one type of bug . All in all, I quit counting after 20 fish. Most were small 4 to 10 inches. A few were over a foot. One was maybe 14. And then there was that one that got away.
I was fishing one of the few deep pools watching the Drake duns float by untouched (odd given the circumstances). Then I saw a HUGE dark shadow drift up from the depths, was about to inhale one of the flies, then spotted me and simply drifted back down. I backed down below it and flicked my Drake comp dun into the same area. The leviathan appeared again and inhaled my fly! I set the hook and he shook his head like a shark ripping into a giant tuna. It tore upstream and jumped two feet out of the water. I was stunned by its size… a rainbow as big as a steelhead and I'm not exaggerating. It could've went about 7 or 8 pounds. (I assume it was stocked upstream at Harpsters or other pay-to-fish section.) Well, it came crashing down, I forgot to “bow” to its jump – my leader popped at the first knot. And I was left on the banks a bit shaken and thinking next time I fish this pool I better wear Depends.
An amazing day. A perfect storm of circumstance -- the right weather, time, low angling pressure and dumbass luck. One of the best days on the water I’ve ever had.
WEATHER: Heavy overcast. Cool 61 degrees.
FISH CAUGHT: Many, many wild browns. A few smaller rainbows.
FLIES USED: Green Drake dry, Sulphur dry size 16, March Brown dry size 12, Sulphur emerger size 14
A truly epic day. I rarely fish the George Harvey Section of Spruce because too much of the water is really tight and branched into smaller sections. But I thought I'd stopped by the on the way home from the jam just to check it out. Pulled into the lot at 2:30. Only one other car was there. Thinking I'd fish for an hour or so, I walked down the path to the water. I was stunned to see such a wide variety of bugs in such a short stretch of water. Looking up and down the riffle I saw Green Drakes, Sulfurs, March Browns, caddis and BWOs. Better yet, trout were rising everywhere. You hear what a great Class A Spruce Creek once was but has gone downhill? No way. To see the numbers of rises in a short run made me a believer again. The only tricky part was trying to figure out what the trout were eating, each seemed to be focused on one type of bug . All in all, I quit counting after 20 fish. Most were small 4 to 10 inches. A few were over a foot. One was maybe 14. And then there was that one that got away.
I was fishing one of the few deep pools watching the Drake duns float by untouched (odd given the circumstances). Then I saw a HUGE dark shadow drift up from the depths, was about to inhale one of the flies, then spotted me and simply drifted back down. I backed down below it and flicked my Drake comp dun into the same area. The leviathan appeared again and inhaled my fly! I set the hook and he shook his head like a shark ripping into a giant tuna. It tore upstream and jumped two feet out of the water. I was stunned by its size… a rainbow as big as a steelhead and I'm not exaggerating. It could've went about 7 or 8 pounds. (I assume it was stocked upstream at Harpsters or other pay-to-fish section.) Well, it came crashing down, I forgot to “bow” to its jump – my leader popped at the first knot. And I was left on the banks a bit shaken and thinking next time I fish this pool I better wear Depends.
An amazing day. A perfect storm of circumstance -- the right weather, time, low angling pressure and dumbass luck. One of the best days on the water I’ve ever had.
