Fishing Report 3/1/2020

Winter fishing has been hit or miss thus far on the Little E. I can count 2 good outings that have been above average, with today being one of those days. Fishing opportunities have been limited with the amount of snowy cold days we have had, but it looks like those days are finally coming to an end and spring is on its way (knock on wood).

I haven’t done much nymphing this year, and instead have focused on fishing streamers with my new medium action 8’ 1/2” 5 wt Sage Trout LL. It’s a fantastic rod to fish our river with, but it doesn’t hurt to carry a 10 ft 4 wt to Euro Nymph some of the deeper runs with. When taking this approach, I like to start by nymphing the run, pick up whatever fish are willing, and then run a streamer through it. With that said, I’ve changed my approach on the streamers I’ve been using, due to a recent study conducted in our river that determined sculpins and crayfish are a substantial part of a trout’s diet in the Little E. We found that to be especially true today. Jon fished black buggers and I fished a new dirt brown prototype crawdad streamer I’ve been messing around with, as well as the classic gray and white minnow pattern. The fish just seemed to be on today as we made our way up the Catch and release. We caught a lot of Little Elkhart naturally reproduced browns, as well as some browns from our stocking efforts this past spring. In addition, we caught a couple of nice sized holdover rainbows that survived the summer. Most fish took Jon’s bugger, until he added a dropper and then started catching them on both flies. I switched back and forth from my grey and white minnow to the crawdad streamer, and even fished an articulated sculpin that picked up a few fish. We fished our way up to the confluence, and then checked out a small tributary that was previously unfishable due to the prior landowners. We made our way back down quickly covering water as we went and found a nice brown to end the day. Between the 2 of us we found 16 browns and rainbows, and missed many more. Jon outfished me by the way!

The Catch and Release water from Spring St to County Road 43 is open until turkey season, which begins on April 22 and runs until May 10. Make sure to get out and fish while you can! The water is about perfect right now and should only improve with the rain forecasted tonight. The fish are hungry and willing to eat streamers and nymphs, as long as you keep your retrieve slowwwww on the streamers, and keep your nymphs drag free and “in the zone.” Letting your streamer hang for up to 10 seconds in the fishiest part of the run can make or break your day.

If you’ve never fished our waters and are looking to cut the learning curve, give us a shout and we will get you dialed in.

Flies To Try:

-Streamers: Low Fat Minnow, Grey and White Clouser, Buggers (Black, Olive, White, and Rust), Leeches both Black and Olive, Small Sex Dungeons, Small Scoblins, and Slump Busters in Black, Olive, or Rust.

-Nymphs: Bishops, Tungsten Surveyors, Dutchies, San Juan, Mop flies, and Pheasant Tails.

-NC

The Pursuit of Permit

Key West is one of my favorite places in the world. Lynn and I went on our first vacations together to Key West, and we vowed to return every year. We seem to make it back there only every three or four years, usually with her dad Maury and her brother and sister-in-law Mike and Christina. We try and go late in October for what is called Fantasy Fest. Fantasy Fest is a week-long celebration of debauchery when Duvall Street fills with professionals, mostly in there 40's, 50's and 60's, become alter-ego's of themselves and dress for a pre-determined theme. Nudity is encouraged, though rarely appreciated. Fantasy Fest is the single best week of people watching I have ever experienced.

The second time we visited Key West, Lynn surprised me with an all-day guided trip with Capt. Drew Delschmidt. I had never fished the saltwater flats before and spent ten hours standing on the bow of Drew's skiff. I cast twice in those ten hours and still consider the trip to be one of the most exceptional fishing experiences of my life. I was hooked. And I wanted to catch a bonefish, a tarpon, and a permit, In that order. Since I fished with Drew last, I had managed to catch a tarpon on the fly in the Glades and had become obsessed with the permit. As soon as I found out we were headed back to Key West I booked Drew. This time for two days!

DAY ONE:

I had arranged to meet Drew at a Bobalu's on Big Coppitt at 8:00 am. I set two alarms for fear of oversleeping, but alarm clocks not needed on Key West. There is a multitude of roosters beginning their endless cackles even before the first signs of light.

It was great to see Drew again! After a short drive to the boat launch, we were quickly jetting across the aqua ocean channels until he slowed the boat off plane and into the flats. Drew had asked me what I wanted to fish for, and of course, my priority was the permit. I took my place on the bow tower as Drew mounted his perch and began to push us through the flat. I was much more confident this go around. The last time we fished, I hadn't thrown a double haul in a few years, but now I spent most of my weekends bombing huge articulated flies to trout and smallmouth. It proved to be a false sense of security.

The first few hours were much like the last time me and Drew fished. Time flies when you're fishing with Drew. He is a beautiful teacher, storyteller and all around great guy. Around noon, Drew stopped mid-sentence and shouted "There! Two o'clock! 120 feet! Do you see them?"

I did not. I pointed my rod tip toward the two o'clock position until Drew said "Yes! There! Now 75 feet. Load up!" I could feel my muscles tighten and my pulse rise as I began my false cast. "Now 60 feet!" he said.

"I got 'em!" I replied.

"Fire away!" Drew ordered. And I did. I completely missed my mark by the better part of a meter. The four permits quickly scurried away with my first strip. "Don't worry," Drew said, "We'll get the next one." All my confidence evaporated in one cast.

I did cast to five more permits throughout the day, putting two cast inches off the fishes nose on two occasions, to no avail. I was disappointed but glad I had another day to try and catch a permit.

DAY TWO:

Drew and I set out a bit earlier on day two, and we started on Cudjoe Key near his house. We also started with tarpon has our target species. As we approached the cove, I could see these huge fish rolling ahead of us. I have caught tarpon before, but nothing in the range of these fish that were better than a meter long! I cast to a couple, but the fish were very skittish for the second day as well. In the late morning, we went back to the flats looking for Permit, but the flats were barren. Drew worked his ass off again, but the result was the same. I spooked the only two permit we found. I was thoroughly frustrated!

I asked Drew what a good day of Permit fishing looked like? How many would be considered a good day?

"ONE." He replied.

I returned to our house on Key West humbled and frustrated. And more determined to catch a Permit than ever! I'll be back Drew! And this time, more practiced and ready to perform.

We left Key West a few days later and headed Cheeca Lodge on Islamorada for a night on the beach. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and we will be returning there soon.

Lessons Learned

1. Use your rod. Drew fishes and provide Scott Merdian Rods. Beautiful, American made high-quality rods. I fish a Sage Ignitor. Super fast action. I struggled to get the line speed I was used to with the slower action rod and wasn't able to put the fly where I wanted every time.

2. Practice. Get a barstool, put an empty beer can on it and practice knocking the can off the stool from 60 to 80 feet away in a 15 MPH wind. If you can hit the can 8 out of ten times, you are probably ready.

3. Relax Your Strip. I have thrown size 22 dry midges to trout in gin-clear water with 15 foot leader with an 8/0 tippet. That is a walk in the park compared to the measures one must take to not spook a Permit. Not just on the presentation, but also the strip.

-kitz

Fishing Report 5/31/18

Amidst the preparation for Colorado and guiding, I finally got sick of packing and found a little time to provide an update on the Little Elkhart. We have been blessed with relatively cool temps and a significant amount of rainfall early on this season, which is pretty typical for the springtime. What wasn't typical was the transition from what seemed like an endless winter, followed by an unusually short Spring, right into the dead heat of Summer! I'm not complaining, just concerned for our trout. Thankfully, there are no 90 degree days in our 10 day forecast and temps should return to upper 50s overnight, which should keep us fishing right into July.

Guiding has gone well this season and should continue to be good as long as we get the right weather. I've been blessed with some pretty awesome clients thus-far and would like to continue the trend. Two of my more recent clients caught their first browns with me and their excitement level was contagious. It's always awesome to see clients get fired up and catch the fly fishing addiction, and as a guide it makes you want to work that much harder to get them more trout and eventually a club worthy brown. As far as my own personal fishing goes, I haven't landed a single trout over 20 inches on the little e yet this season (my real job is to blame), however; I have caught a a decent amount of 15-18" and hooked a good amount of really big browns. 

Give us a call if you're looking to get on the water and we'll make it happen (the sooner the better availability is limited!)

Fly selection and Critical Info:

-Water temp: +/- 64 degrees Fahrenheit (Colder if you know where to look) 

-Clarity: Partially Stained

-Nymphs: Bishop, Dutchie, Holy Grail, Rainbow Warrior, San Juan (Pink and Red), Girdle Bug, Mop Fly.

-Streamers: Small buggers sizes 6-10, slump buster, and clousers during daytime, Peanut Envy, Scoblin and Boogieman at first light, last light, and night time. 

-Mice: Skate or swing them with some twitches. 

-NC