Verdigre Creek Journal | Gifts from Heaven

Gifts from Heaven

At 5:00 a.m., the temperature hovered in the mid-thirties.

The forecast was for a brisk wind out of the south, temperatures in the high fifties. The official temperature didn’t, but at the creek, it just broke sixty.

Days like this, in early November, are gifts from Heaven.

The temperature of the water at the Bridge Pool was 47.5(o) F. Two rainbows worked back and forth taking BWO nymphs and caddis larvae. The little, weedy, water sedges had been migrating downstream; these rainbows were having them for breakfast.

I passed on the rainbows. I was hunting for browns.

I worked my way past the Monolith Pool to Brown Alley. I saw fish but getting them to take anything was proving to be a challenge. Several fish had expressed interest, they were moving to get food which was encouraging, none, however, were committing.

Then, the first hit of the day, a nice brown, maybe twelve inches (a good size for the Verdigre). She took a size 22, extended-body, BWO dry. She fought like a mad woman running from upstream of my position to downstream. She fought hard and went underneath a snag. I finally brought her to within a foot of my hand. She shook her head brusquely and was gone.

Undeterred, I worked my way up the alley. I got the skunk out of the boat by landing a few nice browns. They weren’t defending their redds; I assumed that they had already spawned.

A nice brown from the Creek

I tried several spots on the creek. As the sun would trickle though the woods, the ambient temperature broke 60(0) F and the rays warmed the creek to over 50(o). The wind, though, was stiff and was blowing the line well off target. I need to squeeze every ounce of power out of my quad; I overweighted by one line size with a weight forward taper.

I moved to a new location, the Blue Winged Olives returned to the creek to lay their eggs, the trout would roll to capture the spinners. The caddis returned to the water sporadically to lay their eggs.

With the heavier line, my casts were cutting the wind. It was dry fly heaven. A size twelve, olive, elk-hair caddis with a size 22 BWO dropper was working well. I switched over to a size 14 parachute Adams for the indicator and dropped a Barr’s Caddis and BWO off of that. The creek was clear, I could see the rise before the tell-tale gulp.

Magnificent.

The Top Ride leaves a tell-tale Mark

Another nice Brown

As the sun began to set, the fish settled down. They had had their fill. They knew, perhaps, that harder times were coming. For now, their bellies were full; the fishing slowed.

Then, there he was. A nice brown, defending his redd. I passed on him. Better to let him do his work, I thought.

I tried a section of the creek that I hadn’t fished in a while. A few holdovers were still eating. I released the last one as the light transitioned to gray. I made my way back to the truck. I didn’t want the day to end. I sat by the banks of the creek and ate my sandwich. I lingered and remembered. It had been a day that had been filled with gifts from heaven.