Lake Run Browns--A Quest

 

 

March 25, 2005
Today I saw some pictures a friend, Graham, posted online of the biggest Brown Trout I've seen in my life.  Not just one fish, but dozens!  I have no idea where he caught them, but am guessing it was someplace like Patagonia.  I’d kill to get a picture of my ugly mug with one of those fish.

September 17, 2005
I was talking with Graham last night and he divulged where he caught most of those beautiful Brown Trout.  I've already burned most of my vacation time for this year, but next year I will definitely be stashing some for the Fall to chase those monster Browns for a couple days. 

March 3, 2006
Went to work this morning and found out the company I work for is shutting our plant down.  Just like that, 300 people are looking for a job.  Only problem is there are no jobs here, unless you wanna work for minimum wage at a golf resort.  They gave us a descent severance package, but that is only gonna get my family by for a few months.  I know it should be the last thing on my priority list right now, but I can't help but think about the fact I won't be able to go after those trophy Brown Trout in 8 months. 

August 26, 2006
Well the job search in northern Michigan went nowhere, and I'm just about ready to cross the Michigan-Ohio border in a 24' UHaul on my way to a new job in eastern New York.  I can't help but feel sad about everything that has happened.  I don't want to leave Michigan, I love it here. 

September 21, 2006
I just talked with Graham and made plans to hook up and do some fishing together when he comes out for some fishing next month.  Not only is he coming, but a few friends from Michigan are coming out as well.  It'll be nice to see some familiar faces, homesickness has set in hard. 

October 31, 2006
Well it looks like I won't be able to make the trip for Browns.  Not only do I not have any vacation time yet with my new job, but we're broke.  I can't believe this.  Maybe next year.

April 4, 2007
Just found out when Graham is coming out again this year.  I don't care what I have to do, I'm making the trip, hopefully more than once. 

October 14, 2007
Today I let my wife know about the trip.  She tried to lay down the scorn, but I don't care.  Nothing is gonna stop me this time.  I'll be taking 4 days to fish my way from New York's Erie Tribs, up to the West Ontario Tribs, then work my way over the Salmon River before heading home.  Graham said I was welcome to stay at the cottage he's renting while I'm in that area. This is gonna be awesome!

October 27, 2007
I can't believe it's almost here!  This trip will be the culmination of a 2 1/2 year roller coaster ride of hope, and disappointment.  We're broke, so money for the trip will be tight.  I don't know if I can afford to sleep at Graham's cabin at all now.  But I'm gonna be broke whether I stay there or not, so what's the difference?  I guess I'll deal with that when the time comes.  Right now, it's time to start packing.

October 30, 2007
Got this email from my wife today about how her sister is coming over to pick up the kids and I need to tidy up before she gets here, then there's this line-

" After the house is tidy, you can start getting ready for your trip, but I don't want to hear one thing about how you cant help out because you have to get ready!! I know you"

I hate it when my excuses get shot down before I give em.

November 1, 2007
8am-  Today is the day!  I should be on the road, but I have no money, so I'm here at work waiting for the paychecks to get passed out.  I loaded up the car last night and feel like I'm forgetting something.

1pm-   Just stopped in at Oak Orchard Fly Shop in Williamsville on my way to Cattaraugus Creek.  I grabbed some Rio Poly Leaders for my spey rod and my card got declined when I went to pay.  How embarrassing.  The guy working in the shop held onto them while I ran up to the ATM to see what my balance was.  -$108.  Looks like the lady didn't make my deposit from this morning available yet. My tank was on E from the drive over here, so I put my last $20 in gas then went back to the fly shop to let them know I wasn't gonna be making a purchase that day.  The guy working was awesome.  He asked if I wasn't gonna be able to fish now. I told him I had an 8wt set up for indicator fishing in the car and I'd just use that.

"You wanna swing though right?", he asked.
"Yeah!"

He offered to set up a charge account so I could get the poly leaders I needed. As tempting as it was, I wanted to play it safe and had to decline. Nothing like being 4 hours from without a cell phone and a pocket full of dimes and nickels. It could have been his intention to do what it takes to make the shop some money, which is cool, but the way he came off was like a guy who just wanted to help a dude out.  They earned a customer for life.

I got in my car and decided not to fish the Catt, and just head straight for Lake Ontario.  It was then that I realized I had to get back on a road that has portion tolls.  Fortunately I only needed 65 cents to get me to my exit.

3pm-  I just pulled up to a small stream that supposedly gets a descent run of Steelhead.  I looked the topo map over and found a spot that I figured wouldn't be too crowded.  I am the only car in the lot, hopefully there's a fish or two hanging around.

6:30pm-  It's dark and I just got off the water.  I walked down to the bank and right away heard a big splash about 40 yards downstream.  I waded down and started drifting a Chrystal Meth under an indicator and spotted a shadow hovering at the bottom of a small hole.  After watching it for a few seconds I realized it had an fiery, orange belly.  Brown Trout!  I cast the rig above it and about 3' before the fly made it to my target the bobber hesitated and I set the hook.  Right away I felt a burst of furious head shakes and before I knew it the fish was peeling line.  I'd always heard that big Brown Trout will just head shake and try to bulldog you, but this fish was taking runs like a small Steelhead!  With every change in direction, other fish twice as big would scatter about the area.  I had paradise all to myself.  After a several minute fight I beached my first lake run Brown Trout. It was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.  I'm not a religious man, but only god could paint such a beautiful picture. I popped the hook out of it's jaw, snapped a quick picture, and before the revival even started, the fish surged loose from my grip. 

I fished till dark with no more hook-ups. 

7pm-  I just meet up with Graham and Brent at the cottage.  I've fished with Brent before in Michigan, and it was great to finally meet Graham.  They had already been there for 5 days and had the fish pretty well dialed in.  We BS'ed for a few minutes before going inside.  The cottage was very comfortable, you walked in and were in the living room, then to your right was the dining room and kitchen area.  Graham brought a laptop and after uploading the pictures they took from that day, showed me some of the fish they'd caught already during the week.  Drool poured.  We spent much of the night tying flies, laughing, sharing stories, and laughing some more around the dining room table.   Graham makes a mean Gin & Tonic.  It felt so good to just laugh.  I can't remember the last time I've laughed so hard.  The big push of fish each day seemed to be around 2pm so there was no hurry to get to bed early.  We finally crashed around 4am. 

November 2, 2007
We woke up around 10am.  The plan was to fish an area of a stream that Brent and Graham had been doing well on.  We made it down to the river around noon and although there were a few other anglers around, there was plenty of room to fish.

 

 

 

 

It didn't take long and Brent had a nice Brown on.  One of us was hooked up with a fish pretty regularly when Mike from New York showed up.  Shortly afterwards I caught my first fair hooked fish of the day.

 

 

Next thing you know, a blushing Steelhead took Graham's stone nymph. 

Brent and I were sitting on the bank drinking a soda when Fred and Joe showed up.  I've fished with Fred several times in the past on Michigan's Pere Marquette River, and once on a charter in Lake Michigan.  Fred is that guy that seems to always find a way to catch a fish, especially when things are tough.  Fred introduced us to his friend Joe from Illinois.  Almost immediately Joe hooked up with, and landed, his first Brown of the trip.  Joe is still learning the ropes of fly fishing, but he fished like he's been doing it for years. 

Mike left, and the remaining 5 of us fished until dark when Fred hooked up with what we thought at first was a huge Steelhead.  The fish took Fred 100 yards downstream. I followed him and the fish down in case he needed any help.  It was about 5 minutes before I got a good look at it and realized it was a fresh King Salmon.  I tailed the fish and the hook was right in the corner of it's mouth.  Next thing you hear is Graham yelling from upstream,

"Fred, do you got a fish?"
"You didn't see that fight?" Fred said, stunned.

When you're having fun with friends, what's going on around you doesn't matter.

 

Debriefing

After that we hung out on the bank for a little bit and made plans to meet up at the cottage afterwards.  Brent cooked a great meal for everyone and we chowed down.  I mean chowed down!   Fred and Joe took off and Brent, Graham, and myself were up late into the night.  Brent has gotta be one of the funniest people I've meet.  I don't care who you are, he will have you laughing in no time.  We sat around the table tying flies and laughing so hard that several ties tears were pouring from our eyes.  I laid down to go to sleep about 5am.  I laid there in bed smiling that I still had 2 more days to fish. 

 

You realize how spoiled you are when you call fish like this small.

November 3, 2007
We got up around noon.  Brent cooked biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  Fred called Brent and told him to tell us to get down to the river.  Fred said he and Joe had been down there since 4am and almost got in several fights trying to save room for us.  When we got down to the river we had no problem finding a spot to fish and found out Fred was just screwing with us.  As the day went on though, it got tighter and tighter.  Fred, Joe, and Graham managed to hook up and catch several fish.  At one point Fred and Joe had a double.  Brent and I decided to go hit a different stream in hopes of escaping from the weekend crowds.  We took off and hit a tiny stream not too far away.  The water was really low.  We saw a few Salmon, but they were few and far between, and also very spooky.  We were there for Browns and decided to just head back to the cottage until the other guys finished fishing.    

We sat on the porch and BS'ed until the other guys showed up.  Mike lived about 30 minutes away and invited us to come tie with his tying club that night.  I was planning to drive to the Salmon River to swing speys the next day, but Graham and Brent invited me to stay another day.  I had so much fun fishing with them the past 2 days, there was no way I could turn down the offer.  We grabbed our vises and drove to Mike's house.  There were tables set up and the three of us, plus seven guys from Mike's club had a good time tying flies and chowing down on some pizza.  We stayed for about 4 hours before heading back to the cottage.  We stayed up late into the night again.  Non-stop laughs till 7am. 


November 4, 2007
My last day fishing before I have to head home.  This has already been one of the best trips of my life.  There is nothing better than fishing and hanging out with good friends. 

Today is Daylight Savings time so we got up at 1pm and flipped the clocks back to 12pm.  Fred and Joe were already down on the river and said that most of the people fishing had already left.  Brent cooked ham and cheese omelets and we headed out.  The weather conditions are much better than yesterday.  When we got down to the river we were happy to see that Mike from Ohio had made the trip. 

 

 

Fall Foliage

I hooked up with a nice Brown on my first cast and the action was crazy. At one point 5 of us were all fighting fish at the same time.  Fresh Browns are coming up in waves and any Salmon we hook up with are are being broke off.  I did battle with the fish of my life.  I was following my drift when the rod buckled and my line rooster tailed upstream, and then about 40 yards downstream in seconds.  I hadn't saw the fish yet, but figured it was either a King or a big Steelhead.  Suddenly the fish came to the surface and it was a huge Brown Trout, 15 pounds easy.  Whoever says Brown Trout just head shake and hold their ground hasn't done battle with these fish.  It came off seconds later. 

I was using 6# and asked Brent if I could bum a couple feet of 8# tippet.  As I was tying the tippet onto my leader I realized my left hand was bleeding in 3 spots from fly line screaming through it. 

 

My Personal Best Brown Trout

I redeemed myself soon after with a nice female in the 10 pound range.  I'd catch one more 5# male before the sun fell behind the horizon.  There were now 6 of us and we all gathered on the bank and had an icy cold beer to toast an epic day of fishing.  We hiked back to our cars.  Graham and Brent asked me to stay another day or two, but I had to end my trip and head home.  I can't explain how tough it was to get on the highway.  Several times I was tempted to turn around and fish one more day. 

The drive home wasn't bad.  The events of the past 4 days kept flashing back in my head and I couldn't wait to get home and relive some special moments from the trip while looking through the pictures I took. 

November 5, 2007
What a great trip.  I'm still on cloud 9 and having a tough time getting any work done.  I can't believe how great the trip went.  I had high expectations heading into it, and they were fulfilled many times over.  It wasn't the fishing that made it so much fun, but the camaraderie.  It's been a long time since I've laughed so hard.  As I switch focus to Fall and Winter Steelhead, I can’t help but reflect on the road that brought me here. We’re going to Michigan for Thanksgiving in a few weeks. I don’t want to leave New York, I love it here.