Fishing Journal: 4/20/06

I hiked up to about half way to the dam on the Gunpowder.  A good place to start behind a fall down at the head of a riffle in which I knew some fish would be feeding on the far side in the faster water.  The fish were midging there and the cast was across two different currents so the drift would be brief at best.

Midge fishing can be unbearable for many as it was for me for many years.  My eyes are not good enough to see a 5-millimeter object floating underwater forty feet away from me.  I am not sure how anyone can tell if they are getting a drag-free drift of their fly.  Sure you can see the end of the fly line but that isn’t always drifting like the fly-often it is not.  Also, there are usually more than one fish feeding, which inevitably means that the line is be ripped off the water that spooks the run when a fish takes a midge somewhere near mine.  Frustrating to say the least.

Then I learned to put on a parachute Adams attached to the end of a 5X tippet.  From that I tie a three feet section of 7X material and attach it to a midge.  The casting can be hell and the knots disturbing especially if you are casting with a wind, but keeping your eyes on the Adams is much easier than trying to find the midge.  And inevitably, I will usually catch two or three fish on the Adams instead of the midge, which goes to show you that selective fish are not always selective even when they are being selective. 

On the fourth cast, the Adams stopped and I lifted the rod.  The fish ran off some line and then came to me in the shallows of the slower water.  It was about 14 inches, a brown, fat and beautiful even after winter.  I love the Gunpowder.  I am always in disbelief that I am just 30 minutes from Baltimore feeling like I am in the Pacific Northwest.  I caught about four fish there, and moved down the river.

A nice guy I had passed and spoke briefly with on the hike up was fishing below me.  As I approached I asked if I could pass below him.  He stopped fishing to talk, which I finding happens less and less frequently on the river these days.

“You seemed to do pretty well up there.”
“Yeah, I did okay.  Getting them on a black midge about size 22.”  I showed him the fly I was using. 
“I’ve been trying a few different patterns, but only hooked one fish so far.”
“Try this,” I said and clipped off my midge.
“Thanks”
“Good luck.”
“Good luck to you too.”

 
I tied on another midge and began to fish downstream below him.  A few minutes later, I heard his drag “screaming” as they say and turned to see him playing a fish--smile on.  That sound is what I love about guiding, even on a day off.