return to Vermont pt-3 wild places

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