Fishing Report: Wader Madness

I went fishing yesterday with my buddy Dave. We went to a very secret part of the Upper Midwest, to try to catch some brook trout in one creek, which was very close to a river that holds mostly brown trout, just in case the brook trout weren't cooperating. It was a beautifully warm day that was interrupted periodically by large gusts of wind. Thankfully there weren't enough gusts to keep us from casting, just enough to be slightly annoying every once in a while.

Dave on the water.

I had to go into work for a little while in the morning, so by the time I drove to Dave's place to pick him up and then stop to get a sandwich, we didn't get to the river until after noon. The creek we went to first was as clear as could be. We could see a bunch of small to medium-sized trout swimming around, but they didn't seem real active. Over the next hour or so, we proved that fact over and over. We tried copious flies, we were as stealthy as could be, yet not much was happening. I finally coaxed a couple of small browns up to the surface with a brown Elk Hair Caddis, but that was about it. It was strange that all we could catch in this supposed "brook trout creek" were a couple of browns, but weird things happen out in nature all the time.

Since there wasn't much going on at that creek, we headed over to the larger river nearby. It looked much better, probably because there were fish rising in every pool we could see. I headed downstream to try to tantalize some big fish with a wool bugger, while Dave went upstream and promptly started catching fish on some sort of dry caddis fly. Catching fish on a dry fly is way better than not catching fish with a wooly bugger, so I decided to change flies. I put my Elk Hair Caddis back on and began catching fish right away. What was strange was that, despite being on a "brown trout river", three of the first four fish I caught were beautifully colored brook trout, one of which had to go 12 inches. What a strange phenomenon, but like I said, strange things happen all the time outside.

I am not sure how many Dave ended up catching, but I landed 5 brook trout on this stretch, along with somewhere around 25 browns. The biggest was a hulking 14 incher I caught on my CDC-Enhanced Gold Ribbed Hares Ear. What a fun day!

Except, that is, for my waders. I got some new used waders a couple of months ago, and this was the first time I wore them on the water. I knew that they weren't exactly the right size, but I figured I could make them work. Ahh, but I made a drastic miscalculation...If they were normal chest-high waders with shoulder straps, all would have been fine. But they are waist-high waders, with no shoulder straps, so their being the wrong size meant that they did not want to stay up. No matter what I did, I could not get them tight enough to hang on to my ever-expanding midsection. Any time I moved I had to hold onto my waders with one hand so they wouldn't fall down around my ankles. I felt like a little kid trying to wear my dad's giant pants... I guess I could try to gain some more weight, but instead I think I will move them on to someone who can use them right away. So, if you are in the market for some very slightly used Cabela's Dry Plus Waist High stockingfoot waders in size XL, let me know. If I don't hear from anyone soon, they will be going on ebay.

This is how I spent most of the day. I need some waders that fit...

•  Gear Used: Dave spent the entire day using his Cabela's pack rod, I think it's a TLR model, that is a 7'6" 5wt, along with a beautiful gold-colored Scientific Anglers 50th Anniversary Edition System 5 reel made by Hardy. I am jealous of that reel... I started out the day with my S.A. System 5 glass rod paired with my trusty old Lamson LP-2 reel, then I switched to my newly acquired Fenwick FF84 rod and my Alford reel which is a clone of a Hardy Princess. Both rods performed flawlessly.
  

  

  My Fenwick FF84. What a sweet rod!