RETURN TO VERMONT
PT 3 - wild places the hunt for trout with brother dan
my last trip to vt id wanted to hook up with brother dan so the 3 amigos could fish together but due to dans work schedule it didnt happen so as ken had to work one day i was over and dan had a day off we finally made it happen and dan wanted to take me out after wild trout in the hills and hell i was up for that
brother dan is a very cool fella and a heap of fun to hang out with dan picked me up from brother ken and we headed over to dans place for some breakfast got to say the Americans do a fine breakfast and dan was no exception and i really enjoyed his sausage and cheese wraps and coffee
dan has a very laid back style of cooking breakfast just chop it chuck it in the pan and eat standing up talking about fishing its how he rolls much like ken must be a Vermont thing most enjoyable.
so we headed of into the wilds and to be honest i cant remember the name of the river but we drove for a while stopped for coffee and drove some more before turning onto a dirt road and parking up next to one of those bridges that come straight out of gone with the wind really cool to tackle up next to one of these .
my outfit for this was a rod ken keeps stateside for me an orvis clearwater 3wgt the rod is a 3 piece 9ft rod so couldn't fit it in the luggage anyway lol coupled with a 3wgt floating line and 4lb fluro leader with various small flies both dry and wet
i really love this kind of fishing very shallow and wet wading sight casting for fish or throwing a fly into a likely looking shady spot and just waiting for the take .
the river itself was an amazing place its like you were the first person who had every cast a fly there completely remote and untouched by humans no sounds of cars no other people no rubbish and the only sounds you hear is that of mother nature i actually felt truly blessed to visit and fish a place like this and it only got better
we continued to walk and fish up the river but the fish were proving to be elusive
brother dan teaching me his how to get your fly out of a tree technique
some places are just beyond words i mean imagine fishing a place like this
dan went slightly high and spotted some fish in the deep pool in the shade so i switched to a small gold head and cast where dan was pointing and i was blessed with seeing fish chase the fly but not engage ok frustrating but hey these brook trout can be shy if there not on it
dans fish spotting spot
as much as we tried we could not get these fish to hook up but you know it didn't bother me much how could it in a place like this any fish is a bonus
so we stayed in the deep spot at the foot of the waterfull for a couple of hours but it wasnt to be and we headed back down the river
dan said he had fished this stretch before and had rainbow trout but we decided just to head back to the car as it was a far walk and we were both pretty knackered after wet wading a rock strewn river for a few miles
next time though .
below is a few videos that dan shot just shows the beauty of the place
so zero fish but a great day but it wasnt over yet indeed not after getting heading back towards ken we decided to go tackle the river tanks in the river just below where ken lives now ive fished this before but not further up so this was a new bit of water for me but dan had fished it before so he knew where he was going
fishing these places for smallmouth bass is totally 100% different than anything you'll experience fly fishing in the uk from fast shallow rivers to deeper rock strewn deep water where you perch on rocks and chuck weighted streamers at the tanks that lye below and im telling you pound for pound there is no finer fish to catch on a fly than these things seriously they go like rockets .
for this bit of the river with deeper runs it was the domain of clousers and leaded streamers to get down to them
notice the banged up lead eye
granted not the biggest of smallmouth ive ever caught but i was fishing a 7 wgt and this matched these tanks sportingly on the river great fun
lost as many as i hooked as usually they just dive for cover and once they get in those rocks they can be tricy to get out as dan says "gotta swim for em bro" altough wasnt needed as you can see in the video further down enough pressure and he popped right up
got to say a massive thanks to brother dan for hooking up absolute pleasure to fish with you at last and good to see you hooking up with the bass see ya in may we will do it all again (and breakfast)
so my american trip for this year came to an end with me and brother ken hitting the cinema in burlington to see the nun my connecting bus service up to Montreal was was at stupid o clock in the morning so we thought we would waste some time at the cinema
anyway my tally for the week was over 100 fish which was ok but this year ill be focusing on species and topwater at the end of may so im really looking forward to that
finally a massive thanks to my american family for again welcoming me as the strange relative from scotland who appears most years brings candy washes in the lake watching horror movies with ken and bangs on about speaking properly when talking about chips (a chip is not a bloody crisp)
and as always to my brother from another mother ken "pike picker" capsey who always goes that extra mile to be a complete dick redneck
love ya bro
MCFLUFFCHUCKER
a cave in scotland
Posts
