Another Opener Come & Gone

[ckewley]

It started years ago that a friend & I would skip trout opening as the crowds were insane in favor of booking a few days off during the week to go & practically be alone on any given river. Flash forward a few years & it has morphed into a solid 9 days, including opener in search of all things Trout. We always plan on way more than we could ever possibly do, but that's kinda fun lets the chips fall where they may. Our plan is fairly simple, we hit a few of our time tested spots, we try new spots on the same river & we always try to throw in a new creek/river or two that we've never fished before, maybe even hitting a lake or two. This year the ground we covered was the Saugeen, the Pine, the Boyne, the Notty, the Grand, Bronte, Coldwater, the Rouge, Duffins, Oshawa, Bowmanville, the Ganny, Gages , Cobourg & a little creek that I don't know the name of but it was the best surprise I've had fishing in a long time.

Opener saw us at Bowmanville & opener is opener, tons of guys, lots of swearing, lots of really dumb people & a few fish. Bain got into his first ever river caught bow & while it was nice seeing that happen she was a little lethargic & I wished it had been a super fresh one that would dance all over for him as he's put in the time now to be rewarded. A few more fish caught that day. Sunday rolls around & it's off to the Shwa where I finally drag a brother from a different mother out for a go & doesn't he land a nice spawned out hen. He hasn't fished in a long time & was super awesome seeing him land a fish, bite was SLOW that day so we booked it to the Rouge with little change. Monday comes around & the real adventure can begin, Ed & I, we were going to go fish the Maitland as I know someone with property there & gain easy access, no brainer however about half way there I get a call saying NO FISH & he said Bayfield is pretty much the same so we head slightly north to a spot we know on the Saugeen where we can catch endless Brookies & proceed to do just that. Most of that day was fried due to driving so we called an early one. Tuesday saw us hit up the Pine, Boyne & Notty with very limited luck catching a few Brookies & small bows. A friend of ours lives on the Notty & he texted that fish were around guess they received that text too cause they were gone. Ed had a bug something fierce about catching a steelie on his fly rod,. This is something we only just picked up about 2 years ago & are far from even halfway decent beginners, but we try. So with this bug so far up his ass we hit Bronte & he got his first taste of what it would be like to battle one on a 6 wt. I only packed my ultra light gear as I figured we'd be into 8-12" ers not hunting Steelheads, so at Bronte we weren't there 5 min when he yells out he's on one. I bolt over to see the line snap. I had found a nice pocket of little guy's so I was content fishing there. About 10 minutes go by & he yells out again, this time it stays hooked for a good 3-5 min before the snap off. I shortly after hook into one that lasted mere seconds, retie, pinch barb a cast into this pocket of little guy's NOPE big dude comes rocketing out & the hooks slips. 3rd time on a big guy the hook snaps off, up untill this point I wasn't targeting steelies but then though what the hell & retied & layed into one for a good 10min+, the ultra light & I were bested on every front & just when I had him beat (or so I thought) he threw the hook. Ed would also end up in the zero category that day.

Wednesday comes & we hit Colbourg landing a few sub 5lbs'ers & although sighting lots of fish they weren't into anything we chucked at them so off to Gages creek where I run the mother load of small bows, all around 10" but a strong 10", I'm content with this kind of fishing all day puts a huge smile on my face. Ed still wants that steelie on the fly however, we've never fished the Ganny before, not for a unwanting too but just way too many folks, we're not into combat fishing, however we decide to try & see what it's like midweek. Busy...hell ya, but not at all what it could have been. We heard more than on person say the "bite was off today" & "it will be better next week" but we both go 1 for 2 there, maybe given the number of fish (a metric crap ton) YA the bite could've been off but hell we had fun. And oh yea Ed forgot his fly rod in the car...lol!!!!. We end the day at Bowmanville where Ed would see his crowning achievement of landing a steelie come true....I was about half a Km away but could hear the cheering!!!. Thursday saw us head up Port Severn/Coldwater way with a few stops along the way, one being a creek that a old timer on another forum once told me about. He copied a map for me & gave me directions to get there. It was about half Km walk through thick bush to get there & once there it was a slice of heaven. Creek couldn't have been any more than 5 ft at it widest part , most stretches were between 2-3ft but the fishing was unspoiled. Brookies were few but all in the 8-10" range while the bows were in the 10-14" range (some smaller of course) but it was the big ones that get spooked easy that had us shaking. Guessing in the 16-20" range but couldn't get within 10 ft of these guy's. This spot made my year thus far. After a awesome time there we had back to Duffins where the fishing took a different turn. Suckers & nothing but SUCKERS, hundreds of suckers. Truth told I don't mind catching them, they are kinda fun but when out for trout they suck. It was then we decided to turn this lemon into lemonade & basket a few suckers to hit Dunnville on Friday. Perfect way to end the week even if it's not trout related.

Friday morn we head off to Port Maitland to start, spend a few hours there. Saw a few fish landed but most folks were packing up so did we & off to Dunnville. Spent a few hours there & caught 1 small cat maybe 2-3lbs but dropped him before I could snap a pic...oh well. After spending the last 7 days burning it we'd pack it in around 3pm & head home. Saturday came freaking early with a return of Bain as we hit up the Shwa one more time & while the bite was slow Bain poped 2 more steelies under his belt & one he didn't land but gave him that Steelie fight, cartwheeling, jumpimg, bulldogging...ya it safe to say he's hooked.

Too many photo's to go through so I'll post some of my favs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's to the start of I hope what will be a awesome soft water season!

[PUMP KNOWS]

What a great adventure you guys had that week.

 

Thanks for sharing

[chris.brock]

What a whirl wind 9 days! Great read and some beauty fish Chris and company.

[Old Ironmaker]

Talk about bushwhacking. How do you spell fanatic. Fantastic read, thanks. I gave up on bushwhacking for trout years ago, I used to call Varney the Mei Kong delta because of the some of the jungle we trekked through to nab those brookies. That was 1 knee and 1 hip ago.

[solopaddler]

Definitely a whirlwind - and a lot of driving! Bet there was a forest of fast food garbage in your back seat LOL!