SLT Re-Union On The Grand River
All 4 pieces of my SLT were reunited this week - they were itching for action. I met up with my buddy Sam(a person) along with Comparadun for some action on the Grand river.
Sam and Comparadun working a run
The forecast suggested it might be cooler, and that it might be a little windy. Both were understatements as I’m sure most of you know. Sam and I did some fishing then some drinking friday night so being outside in cold and wind at 6am was rough. We managed to pull ourselves together and meet up with Comparadun down in the middle section of the Grand though.
There wasn’t too much going on for the morning. Early on some cranes and caddis started coming up. There were sporadic rises to these but nothing consistent at all. The fishing was pretty slow for the morning. Comparadun was the only guy I saw catch a fish all morning in fact. The main complication was the wind - it would create a lot of drag in your line, mess with your casts and suck the warmth from your bones… The three of us all noted that it felt like steelhead weather…
We took a lunch break to regroup and then headed back out to the river.
After being out on the water for a while we noticed the browns starting to work the surface. I took a few shots of the surface fare for the afternoon while deciding what to tie on.
Here’s a cute little bwo:
There were also some cranes coming off:
And then there was the more obvious choice on the Grand - caddis:
Above right: An emerger with the shuck still attached.
We fished emerging caddis patterns and met up with some good results. Again the key was having a fly that sat low in the water like an emerger or drowned fly - anything riding on top would be refused.
Left: me and fish | Right: Sam and a brute
Here’s another nice Brown from the afternoon - He wasn’t as thrilled to see my SLT out on the water as I was:
The surface action died off by 3 or so. We worked some of the water with a variety of patterns (both dries and nymphs) but the wind was taking its toll on us. By 6 we all were off the water. It was a harsh day out, but we had some good results too so I won’t complain…
It was great meeting you out on the water Comparadun - hopefully next time we get some better weather!
Happy Father’s day to all you Dad’s out there…
Crane - shuck and all. A great example of the pale yellow body.
DanJ
