On the last weekend of the season, I took a trip out to the Grand River. A quick breakfast and a thermos of coffee, and I was on the road at 5:30.
I start each trip on the same roads, then depending where I’m heading for the day I’ll choose my route for the day. One thing remains consistent; I will always drive through the countryside. This is an important part of this obsession, as I love the rolling hills and the varied landscapes, although at 5:30 AM there isn’t much to see in late September.
This day the early autumn winds had also picked up, and the drive was punctuated by blowing leaves (some with small branches) and some small but intense rain squalls. I knew it might be a bit harsh on the water, but I didn’t have any weekends left so I resigned myself to see it through.
Even with the weather as it was, the drive to the river was still enjoyable. Listening to some nice music, with a coffee and the fresh air in your face and nothing urgent to attend to except watching the road (with no other traffic around) is a nice place to be. Today was no exception.
Arriving at the river I geared up quickly, and set off to the river. As expected, the water was fast, the current would be a huge factor today. With these conditions there was no place for small dry flies and if I fished a nymph I’d have to hit the fish on the head, so it was going to be streamer fishing today.
I covered the water well with a series of casts. One good aspect of fishing with streamers is you’ll usually get an immediate reaction from the fish, so you can cover a lot of water quite fast. You will cast into all of the likely spots in your vicinity, and then move a few feet upstream and start over. It may sound monotonous but if you like casting it’s great, and it is the most active method of fly fishing since you’re casting and retrieving quickly.
I worked my way up river for a few hours, pausing only to try different styles of streamer. There were a few smaller pools, so I did make an attempt at throwing a nymph occasionally, but it was not meant to be for this stretch of river today. I packed up and decided to try another stretch a few miles downstream.
As I was packing my tackle in the car, I saw a few other anglers that were just heading to the river. We had a nice conversation about the season, and the general consensus was that this season was a write off. None of us had a particularly prolific season, and none of us had caught as many fish as last year, nor none that compared in size either. It’s a conversation that I have had many times this year with a lot of good fishermen.
As it was only about 10 AM, I had a little bite of lunch and headed off to the area downstream to try again. This part of the Grand is a little tamer than the area I fished in the morning, but the current was still moving fast. Here, however, there were some more pronounced pools so I could try a variety of flies.
I worked the river for another couple of hours, but the results were the same. A lot of casting, a lot of different techniques, but the same lack of action. Only once did I see any sign of a fish; I was using a small streamer that I tied the night before, and had cast to a promising area. As I started to retrieve it a large fish hit the fly, but didn’t take it. I tried over and over again, but usually if a fish hits the fly and rejects it, it won’t take it another time.
It was unfortunate too, because I could tell that it was a decent sized fish that attacked it, probably about 14 inches plus. I guess every angler has to have a “one that got away” story; this is one of mine.
This is how the season came to a close. I’ll be out again, there are areas that are open that may still harbour a brown trout or a large rainbow (steelhead) and I don’t think I can wait until next April before going out again, but I’ll spend most of my time prepping for next year now.
Come Fly With Me 