Good Saturday
2 Days on Oil
Good Saturday (part1)
After catching 2 sporadic risers, Saturday morning, the wind picked up on the stretch of Oil Creek I was fishing that it just wasn't fun anymore. Dano stopped down along the bank and mentioned that it usually isn't as windy up by Drake Well. I headed to the van and found another friend, Bings, parked beside me. He was just finishing up lunch. We discussed on fishing Drake Well. Even though it's not as big an area to fish as Petroleum Center we were hoping it wouldn't be crowded. I followed him there to finish off the day.
We found a gang of cars in the parking lot and fly fishermen on the stream but we moved on down creek for an open place to fish. I took my 5wt Scott SAS rod being it is a medium fast action and can cut through the wind better than the Scott G2.
Bing's and I found that along the brushy banks almost any dry with a black body would make the trout rise with a good presentation and accuracy. The trout were hugging the bank and most were in hard to reach places. Some were holding in a small back eddy of slack water just beyond a faster current a foot or so out from the bank. We kept our distance so the trout weren't spooked but we were sure the trout knew we were there anyhow.
With a sidearm cast and pinpoint accuracy some of the trout were fooled but you had to be quick with the hook set or you were left with a wet dry fly and a sigh. Once the trout missed the fly or seen enough of it I would switch to another type of black bodied dry. We didn't catch them all but had quite a few rise to our imitations.
Bings with one on!
By evening Dano showed up and we began to fish the occasional Grannom hatch. When the Grannoms started to appear, at times, the wind would change the formation of the swarms. The Grannoms would start to swarm, flying up creek. The wind would kick up and blow them off the creek and back to the bushes and trees. This went on throughout the evening so one never knew when the next swarm would show. Along with them Stoneflies were also coming off so the trout may have been rising to them also. With so many Gannoms about I suspected that there were surely enough beneath the water to keep the more lethargic trout from rising do to the cold water conditions but some trout still rose occasionally.
During a big hatch it would be hard for a fish to pick out my fly with so many naturals upon the water. No fish were methodically rising. It was more like one here and than one somewhere else. I would keep a mental note of where these fish were rising in the middle of the swarm of caddis. I would fish, though, nearer the banks where the fish had less of a selection. This worked well as I was sure I had more hook ups than in the middle of the conglomeration of the swarm mid stream.
When the Grannom swarm died off or was blown away, I would then concentrate more on the fish that rose amidst the heavier swarm. With fewer flies on the water, and still hungry trout, my Grannom pattern had better success.
As it got later fewer risers were about. Dano waited and fished the back of the pool only to the few risers he seen.
Dano catching risers!
I on the other hand was casting blindly, most of the time, to areas where I seen risers earlier. When I did see one rise to a natural of course I pinpointed him out and would occasionally get them to rise to my imitation.
The evening ended with satisfactory results. Fly fishing with good friends, good dry fly action and a Candela wrapped cigar on my way to get wings and a night out listening to the band Trixx.
~doubletaper
post edited by doubletaper - 2012/04/13 07:52:31