Fish-Hawk.Net

I've been unable to sign in so this report is a little old. Its my first outing of the year on a Eastern Ontario trout stream in early May while the Hendrickson mayfly hatch was on. It was a nice warm sunny afternoon.

Depending on the weather and temperature this fly starts hatching sometime around 2 in the afternoon. On this particular day the hatch was drawn out and sporadic all afternoon which is actually the way I prefer it. Instead of fast and frantic it was a nice leisurely afternoon strolling the stream picking off any risers.

Most of the "better sized" trout caught were 10"-14" browns but you could hook all the little brookies you wanted in the riffles.

This was my best trout of the afternoon, a 17" brownie that smacked my #14 Hendrickson dry and gave a very good account of herself on my 4 weight.



If you know a little about this mayfly in particular you will know after the afternoon hatch the fishing slows down and then some of the best fishing often happens later when the flies come back mate, lay their eggs and die. It is called the spinner fall. It can be a little iffy hitting it right, sometimes its too warm or too cold, sometimes its too windy. By 6 the hatch was done and the fishing slowed. It looked if the spinner fall was going to happen it would be later that evening. It had been a great afternoon and why push it? Besides there was cold beer back at the truck.

Nice report and beautiful brown! I have found this to be my most productive spring/early summer trout fishing I have experienced in years.

That is a nice brown,thanks for the pic.

Great report and an awesome lookin' brownie right there!!!

Troutskiii wrote: I have found this to be my most productive spring/early summer trout fishing I have experienced in years.

Funny that you mention this 'cause this has been by far my most forgettable spring for trout fishing in recent years.

Beauty fish. Must have been fun and very satisfying to nail it just right. Tks for the nice report. Cheers

For me this year things started out great but then went downhill in a hurry. I made a trip to a little spring fed creek near Watertown NY that will give you some fun for a few hours but the biggest trout I have caught in this creek over 30 years was a 13" brookie.

Then I had another trip to the same Ontario creek. I wasn't able to get to the stream until 5 and if there was a hatch, it was over. There were caddis flying all over place and clouds of mayflies up in the treetops doing a rhythmic up and down dance....it looked like it was going to be a good night.

But at that time of the year between afternoon and evening fishing can be slow. You may as well stop and go have supper yourself. The riffles were alive with little brookies that'll hit anything and even though by September most will end up in a predators belly.... or succumb to low warm flows....I don't like harassing the cute little buggers.

I half-heartedly tried a weighted nymph in the deeper runs and I did catch a couple of decent brookies but really it wasn't great fishing. So I stopped fishing and sat on the bank and waited for things to heat up.

While I was sitting there the temperature dropped 10 degrees, the wind kicked up and everything went dead. If I was younger I might have preserved and stayed till dark and maybe turned the night around. Years ago on a similar night and place I hooked a big brown on a #14 spentwing dry that took me under a log and broke me off. But the conditions were against me and there was a cold beer back at the truck. I weighed the odds and opted for the cold one!

Now since mid May every creek in Ontario and NY has been overflowing and damn near unfishable when I had the chance. I have cancelled a couple of weekend trips. I guess I could have gone pond fishing but I am not keen on stillwater trout fishing.

Yes, indeed, this has been a notable Spring for me too. I would say the worse in 20 years since I came here and had no idea how to catch Ontario trout. None of my B.C. flies worked other than a few leech patterns. Gradually and with help from others in the OFS, my trout count went up each year culminating in 2009/10. It's been downhill ever since. 50% down each succeeding year and in every lake that I fish enough to make a reasonable assessment. I record rod hours and fish/hour in each lake.

What could be the cause? Well, we had three years of drought and low water levels but this year the levels are good. Personally, I think there is too much harvesting of fish, not enough C&R. The main culprit are ice fishers on small and shallow lakes. But even the large, deep lakes I fish are down. The new Rainbows they are stocking are easier to catch (I got that from OMNR) and caught they are, and gone! Smarten up folks. It ain't sustainable.

Think that it is better up in Bancroft. Not so, according to a few guys I met the other day and they had all the gear (flashers, minnows, elaborate set ups, the works).