Before I get into the most recent Average Joe Fishing report, I would
like to say something about Meteorologists. Several times this season I
have made fishing plans based on weather conditions. I have taken time
off to chase larger trout while it was raining and postponed trips due
to sunny, hot, humid weather. These decisions do not come easily for me
since the days I can spend on the water, between working and family
time, are limited. Therefore I rely on people who have gone to school
for several years to study weather patterns and use the latest
technology to predict, within a certain degree of accuracy, what the
next day’s weather will be. These people have college degrees from our
finest universities and have spent thousands of dollars on higher
education. Why is it then they cannot seem to do their job with any
resemblance of reliability? I cannot recall a single day this whole
entire trout fishing season, and it closes in less than two weeks, when I
made a decision to fish or not fish based upon a weather forecast where
the Meteorologists have gotten it right. Being an Average Joe
Fisherman, I am already at a disadvantage when it comes to out smarting
trout or most species of fish for that matter, and need all the help I
can to make sure the odds are in my favor. I am beginning to think that
there is some big conspiracy between PETA and Meteorologists whose main
concern is to make sure that I catch the fewest fish possible in an
effort to make me quit fishing altogether. Well guess what? It’s not
going to happen! I am going to fish until my body cannot fish anymore!
Damn you Meteorologists! And don’t even get me started about the term
Meteorologist which, when you break it down, means the study of meteors
and has nothing to do with weather forecasting! Ugh! Ok, I feel better
now, on to the report. =)After fishing on Wednesday, I thought the chances of me fishing again before the week was out were slim to none. The stars were aligning for me however. My wife, out of the blue, said “Why don’t you go fishing Saturday since Morgan (my daughter) and I will be busy.” Come again? I have permission to go fishing and didn’t even have to ask for it! Well you don’t have to ask me twice! A quick check of the weather channel told me that there was a high percentage for rain Saturday. Excellent! This is the time of year when I really like to try to catch big brown trout. The trout are all decked out in the spawning colors and are very territorial. Add rain to the mix and it becomes the perfect formula to catch something huge. To put it mildly, I was stoked!
When I arrived at my stream of choice, guess what the weather was like? Sunny! Not just sunny, but sunny with very few clouds! You have got to be freaking kidding me! Several Meteorologists told me that it would be raining all day. Well guess what? It didn’t rain all day! Had I known that it was going to be sunny I still would have chosen to go fishing but I would not have gotten my hopes up to catch a trophy brown trout.
Being
the person that I am, I quickly got over my disappointment in order to
enjoy the day. But then again, based upon the turn this post has taken,
maybe I hadn’t got over it as quickly as I thought. It was a gorgeous
day however and I was going to enjoy it.
The
fishing itself was pretty slow. I did catch several brown trout and
many more brook trout. The biggest fish of the day was a beautiful
fourteen inch brown trout. He came out once to look at my presentation
but missed his opportunity to eat. I waited a few moments and tried
again. The second time was the charm as he annihilated my offering. The
water was so clear I was able to see the white of the big fish’s mouth
when he struck.
The
highlight of the day was having enough time to be able to fish past
where I normally would end my day. Fishing new water is always fun for
me albeit a little less productive since I obviously do not know the
water intimately. My day ended when I came to one of the biggest beaver
dams I have seen in many years and was unable to continue upstream due
to water depth. I find beaver dams to be somewhat of an enigma as you
never really know what you will catch on the other side. I stood atop of
the dam and made several cast into the deep dark water. Several more
brook trout that were brilliantly colored, a couple of smaller brown
trout and two river chubs were brought to hand. With great effort I made
the last cast of the day as far upstream as possible. As my offering
returned to me I saw a huge fish swirl underneath it, easily two feet in
length. As I sit here writing this post I am still not sure if it was
an enormous brown trout or a big pike that I saw. It could have been
either since, as I stated earlier, you never really know what you will
catch on the other side of a beaver dam.
What is the strangest thing you have caught while fishing up stream of a beaver dam?
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