Best day to go fishing

Igot an email from the Coosa Valley TU president, Robert Bold. It was sent to inspire me with a basis for my column. Here is his text from the email:

Monday afternoon I went to a heavily stocked local stream. It was a beautiful sunny day and 65 degrees. I wet waded in shorts. No fish were evident around the stocking tubes and I had no luck. I went to more obscure areas and ended up with no strikes and no fish. Still, it was a pleasant day and I had my dog with me, so once I fished an area I would throw a stick in the water for her. We had a great time up until the last spot I chose to try. On the bank was a “birdsnest” of monofilament fishing line. This is one of my trigger points. Not only is it littering but it is a danger to wildlife. The line and its hazard to wildlife went home with me and was disposed of properly.

His email did inspire me to go to the same stream a few days later. I left my house about 3 p.m. and drove to the stream. It was about 80 degrees and sunny. I stopped at a hole downstream from a stocking tube. Standing on a large boulder high above the pool, I tossed in a Mepps spinner. I had a follow. Another cast and another follow. I decided to move from the large rock and get closer to the water.

There was a fellow there who was just fishing for fun, not keeping any, and he said it was OK to fish alongside of him. I caught a few and threw the smaller ones back. There were a lot of fish in that pool. My friend caught a large rainbow and asked if I wanted it. I said it would make a good dinner. He told me that he planned to be camping here in a few weeks and would keep a few that day to eat at the campfire. I caught a few more and then left the hole with four in my creel.

I fished several good spots upstream and found trout almost everywhere. I caught at least 15 trout and came home with six.

Robert and I are both good fisherman but talent fishing was not why I caught fish and Robert did not. Robert went on a Monday. The weekend usually has a lot of folks fishing, and in popular streams the weekend anglers can deplete the trout that were stocked a few days earlier. I visited the same creek, fishing some of the same spots, was there before the weekend anglers and I caught fish.

The stocking truck had visited the creek sometime prior to my trip. The DNR regularly stocks certain streams and the rate of stocking varies from weekly on a few streams to bi-weekly, monthly and some streams get stocked three times or less a year. The hatcheries try to vary the days that they visits the streams so that anglers will not be streamside waiting on the truck to harvest the newly released fish.

When fishing a heavily stocked stream, the best day to fish is usually not immediately following the weekend. There is the exception of a weekend of miserable weather and heavy rain that keeps the weekend anglers away.

Fishing wild trout streams that are never stocked is totally different. Wild and or native trout streams are usually extremely clear and more difficult to fish. In these streams the success rate is directly related to the anglers’ ability to be stealthy, blend in with the surroundings, to not cast shadows in the direction he is casting and most of all, being quiet.

Wild trout are born in the stream and must use their instincts to stay alive. These trout have been preyed upon by raccoons, birds, bobcats and foxes as well as fishermen all their lives. If a trout is spooked by even the best of anglers, the fisherman will almost swear that there are not any fish in the creek. The fish are there, but are hiding.

My most successful days fishing wild streams have been on heavily overcast days. If you are caught in a summer downpour on a stream, do not head home, but instead start fishing as soon as the rain lets up. The runoff will cloud the water, wash insects into the stream and the cloudy water will make the fish less wary and easier to catch.

A note to those fishing wild streams: If you are lucky enough to be there when conditions are perfect, catch and release is a great idea. We always need to leave some wild trout to make the next generation.