The Madness has ended - Fishing with Fiberglass Fly Rods - Active Discussions - fiberglassflyrodders - Message Board

Tengas, Fenwick, and Marryat

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The Madness has ended

Author	Comment
ratfacedmcdougal	The Madness has ended	Lead	[-]
Master Guide Posts: 340 (10/31/09 04:47:34) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Last weekend which went from Friday til Monday ended my season. My Old Buddy Joe came up from Georgia for some Landlocks and Brookies. Cold weather welcomed him. We also had the added bonus of a good stiff bitter wind. Fridays fishing was slow. Joe is relatively new to big water dredging. He high sticks OK , but mending over differing currents had him baffled. Saturday morning we had Snow, sleet and rain. Did I mention wind? No fish. That evening we had just pouring rain and again no fish. Sunday AM we had a nice balmy 40 degrees and the wind let up. The bite was also on. Cameron's midge nymphs that he gave us in N.C. were the hot flies. Minute red ones. Joe was on fish and got his first ever LL Salmon No that's not Wilford Brimly, that's Joe and his LL Putting a bend in his '51 Orvis Battenkill With Joe onto fish I was able to start fishing myself. The midges were hot the rest of Sunday and Monday. And Monday the cold and wind returned. We didn't fish but a couple hours on Monday and my last fish of the year was a beautiful Buck Brookie. My photo is terrible, between shivering and the wind there was a whole lot of shaking going on Great end of the season. Joe has promised to return next year only a little earlier. Now it's time to man the vise and the wrapping jig. I need a lot of flies and always need more rods. Cheers RFMcD
PeteStiles		#1	[-]
Master Guide Posts: 163 (10/31/09 08:30:51) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Gorgeous brookie!
whrlpool		#2	[-]
Master Guide Posts: 1071 (10/31/09 11:28:15) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Great job by you intrepid guys. Also reminded me why I don't fish the East Outlet in late season anymore--an adventure, but rugged going. Did you go up to the West Outlet (well, I don't remember if it's open for October or not), which sometimes produces when the East Outlet doesn't.
Frank Longcast		#3	[-]
Master Guide Posts: 251 (10/31/09 14:06:48) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Great post RFMcD - Thanks for sharing.
beauglass		#4	[-]
Master Guide Posts: 760 (10/31/09 16:00:33) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Great post.
ratfacedmcdougal		#5	[-]
Master Guide Posts: 341 (11/01/09 06:03:26) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Whrlpool, Yes the late fishing can be brutal, but the payoff is often well worth the discomfort. What other time of the year are the Brook Trout that beautiful and for the most part that large? I fish for Brookies quite hard up in "The County" spring through early fall, I love to get out and bushwhack the streams and hit the ponds for the Hex, but the catching is never as good as now. Early fishing is grand and I love it dearly,but I look forward to October every year. For even more discomfort and frozen fingers and guides I usually get out a couple times in late December with the excuse of getting my money's worth out of my license, and have done quite well. My biggest Brookie ever came the day after Xmas, a 19" hen along with 6 or so 12" males and a few landlocks thrown in. But I'm pretty much a wuss and am quite happy working on gear and going over maps and my log book during the winter. A trip somewhere in the South in Feb helps me get through our long winters. RFMcD
Lanyard Stretcher		#6	[-]
Guide Posts: 50 (11/01/09 08:51:50) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Sweet fish. I think Brook trout are some of the most beautiful fish that swim. Trips with your buddies are special. Thanks for including all of us. Mike
whrlpool		#7	[-]
Master Guide Posts: 1073 (11/01/09 18:49:34) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Absolutely, there's kind of a risk/reward with October fishing. If you hit it right, it's great. Late September on the East Outlet or West Branch--before the days of the October season, was the same way. I fish throughout October for about the same reasons, just not up at the East Outlet. It gets pretty grim on a gray day with a north wind sending the last woodcock down, and the store up in Rockwood that was nice to get a coffee is closed now. When you make a long trip up there, you got a lot of eggs in one basket, although you can usually make--and probably do--a good guess as to what the typical flows will be. I don't care for rugged wading in cold weather anymore, and as you know, the East outlet can get pretty rugged according to how it runs. I still remember 25 years ago coming down from Seboomic, stopping at a store near Brassua at 5:00 am to get a coffee, and the guy asked where I was headed. When I said the East Outlet, the classic laconic response rolled right out of him: "The East Outlet," he said, "they open up the dam and everybody complains the water is too high. They cut the flow back, and everybody says the water is too low." I don't remember if you could call for the daily release schedule back then; at least now you can. It's a good madness; I just end it a little earlier and fish the coastal rivers.

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