Rodding The Stillwater (A Slight Return)

I was able to get back out to the Stillwater (see my previous post on the river, it’s location etc.) last Sunday afternoon and what a great experience it was.

I started out by hiking down river quite a way in hopes of starting as far downstream as I could and fishing the river all the way upstream to the bridge on Dana Hill Road.

Falling back on a prior winning pattern, I tied on a Woolly Bugger and switched between fishing it like a dry and wet fly through a long shallow riffle section.

Things weren’t going well.

Not a single hit even after wading over a 100 yards and through two good pools where I had taken Trout on the last outing.

I was thinking maybe the water level was too low, it was much lower than the last time I was at the river, or maybe it was too warm. I panicked a bit.

I didn’t want to get skunked knowing that I could easily drive to the Millers River and fish a more well known Trout stream.

I came to the third and largest pool on that stretch of the river and I was about to hop from the river and b-line it to the car.

Then it occurred to me. “I’m just fishing this friggin' Bugger… it’s not working. Why not change it!”

I decided to use this opportunity to try my hand at nymphing for the very first time.

Fortunately, last time I was at the fly shop, I picked up a couple of Hares Ears and a Pheasant Tail for just this occasion.

I tied on the Pheasant Tail and casted directly into the fast moving water that was heading into the head of the pool.

The fly sunk immediately and I attempted to fish exactly as I would a dry fly, stripping line and watching very carefully for any sudden unusual movements of to the section of line that met the tippet.

Sure enough the line stalled for a microsecond and I quickly gave the line a good set.

Fish on!

I was stunned. It was a good size fish with some strong pulling and thrashing about under the water.

When I eventually landed him I was pleased to see I good size, 8-10” Rainbow Trout (pictured poorly below) and this time, he didn’t hop off while I was removing the hook.

I kept on nymphing and while working away I noticed some fairly sizable flashes of fish sides in the pool.

It appeared to me that a fish was actively feeding, occasionally turning to its side while scurrying over and across the pool.

Then, a few more casts and BAM!

Another sizeable fish although as I got closer to landing this one, I could see that it was not a Trout.

Instead, it was my good friend the Bass.

Now, I’m not certain what type of Bass this was though. Largemouth, Smallmouth, Spotted? I don’t know but below is a rough video clip I took and if you know what it was, please let me know.

Next, feeling more confident that the river was truly worthy of sticking with, I waded up stream to the next pool and continued nymphing.

Again, success.

First, a nice size Brook Trout then another nice Rainbow.

I waded still further and continued nymphing but by now my Pheasant Tail was looking really ragged and beat and eventually got hung up on a tree and ruined a nice pool when I had to wade right through the middle in order to get the fly off.

I decided to retire the nymph and try to do some dry fly fishing as the river was now getting much smaller with very shallow water.

I tied on what I can only describe as an Adams tied with a Muddler Minnow-like body.

I cast directly into a fairly fast moving broker riffle at the head of the pool I had just fouled.

BAM!

Some crazy little insane fish was now flying out of the water feet into the air.

This was no Chub… and I could see during its brief flights that it had a series of light round marks on its side.

It reminded me of images of immature Brook Trout that I had seen so I assumed that’s what it was although having talked to the guy at the local fly shop, I now think it may have possibly been a Landlocked Salmon Fry.

Unfortunately my crappo cell phone camera was dead so no pics… next time Ill be sure to bring a digital camera and get some good shots.

Well I proceeded to land another five or six more of those little buggers, all about 3 – 6” and all completely crazy.

One thing though, I think I may have been using too large a fly for this size fish (a 12) as they were being hooked in unusual ways. Next time I will use some newly purchased 16 and 18s instead.

At this point, I was starting to get kind of tired but I was committed to getting to the bridge and then walking back to my car by way of the road so I continued on fishing the now very productive Muddler-like Adams.

I came to a really nice looking run that was swift and smooth with large overhanging ledges where the water cut into the bank.

I cast a few times over the sight of a rise that I had caught out of the corner of my eye.

BAM!

Now this was a really nice fish. Very active and strong… no breeder but easily the largest fish of the day.

After making doubly sure that the hook was set I proceeded to land him to find that I had caught a really nice, roughly 10” Brown Trout.

What a great river! Not a sole fishing it and seemingly loaded with nice Trout.

Well I continued on my way, hiking a bit, all the way to the bridge, walked back to the car, filled out the Trout Unlimited catch report and was off very satisfied that I was now thoroughly back in action.