Tie-A-Thon Raises over 10,000 Flies for Flyin Heroes

We had a Chamber of Commerce weekend weather wise here in Amish Country. Perfect weather to get out and fish before the short two week closing of trout season before opening day. I had spent the better part of Saturday with friends and fellow trout bums at the 2015 Tie-A-Thon. All together over 10,000 flies were donated to Flyin Heroes, a wonderful organization that takes Veterans on guided trips for free. I had a chance to chat with the boys from Flyin Heroes and appreciate there efforts. The food was wonderful (great job Terry and Erik) and once again Tim Scott put on an exceptional event. I was proud to be apart of it.

Beach was the first tier to arrive and headed down to Cobus Creek to tempt the trout with his famous grey clouser. First cast he hauls in a big brown, over 20"! The fish was so big he could get his mug in the photo!

Some guys have all the luck!

Steelies in the Joe

Photo by Tim Scott

Years ago, Neldon and I had a streak of several years of fishing Good Friday for spring run steelhead. Job changes, family resposibilites and a long list of other excuses prevented me from carrying on this tradition for the past six or seven years. (Though I think Neldon streak is still going strong). This year, my son Carter and I hoped to start the tradition again and headed to Leeper Park, downtown South Bend.  Carter did feel the power of a steelhead for the first time in his 10 years on this earth, a battle that lasted less than a minute, but converted a new steelhead junkie. After a beer and a burger at Fiddlers Harth, we headed back to the Amish country. 

The bite was not exactly hot that day, though Neldon did bring a few to hand. The good news in, the river is in good shape and fishing will only get better.  

Early Spring on the Little E

March is one of the best times to trout fish on the Little Elkhart River. The water usually is somewhat on the high side but if you catch it right between rains the river will be running just off color and warming coming out of the February cold. That means streamer time. The trout are on the feed and are tired of eating the tiny midges of winter. The water is still cold and the trout are cold blooded so you cannot strip too fast quite yet. In April and May you can rip the streamer back but not in March it is more of a hang and strip in a slow steady long return. Did I mention slow? Slow and wait, let it hang then another slow steady strip and hang. The only thing difficult about the return is the wait on the hang. You need to be patient.

The trout usually will not hit on the first time working a good hole or run like they do later in the spring. Sometimes they take on the third or fourth trip through. There are times when you will get a "short hit". The trout will strike the streamer but not with enough aggression to get hooked. When that happens bring in your streamer immediately and attach a 20 inch section of trailing tippet onto the streamer and add a flashy nymph then run it back through. 9 times out of 10 the trout will take the nymph on the next trip through. I generally use a small streamer tied on an oversize hook to minimize the tail length or place the hook tip further back in the tail section, however you want to look at it. That will increase the percentage of hook ups on these tentative hitting trout.

On Sunday March 22 I was able to take several nice browns on the CR 35 section of stream. Most of them took a white and grey Clouser type streamer I call a "Trout Charlie". The trout pictured above went 18 inches which is a decent fish on the Little Elkhart.

Mike Beachy