April fishing for trout can be a challenge in Maine because the water is still cold, so the fish’s metabolism hasn’t yet kicked into gear. Still, fish are simple animals, much like your average fisherman, so when something they like to eat is passing by, they are likely to eat it, even if they’re not really hungry. Kinda like how most of us would eat some ice cream when we are full from supper.
The other day I was hiking to a likely pool and good timing was on my side, as a family was just leaving the pool with 2 nice trout. The boys, beaming with smiles said they had been there for over two hours with no luck until just then when the fish seemed to turn on to their worms. Worms. I drown a worm now and then, and as my son gets older I’m sure I will more often, but I have chosen fly fishing to occupy the precious fishing time I have, and a big reason is that I find it more challenging, and therefore, at least to me, more rewarding.
Still, here I was this day eager to catch trout, and the pool I was to cast upon had reluctantly given up scant fish to what a trout considers an ice cream sundae.
Aye, even my normally FFO companion was tossing hardware that day.
Well, two hours seemed to be the rite of passage, and after trying attractor dries, streamers, and a variety of nymphs, I decided that I needed to get to the bottom of this predicament; indeed, switching to a full sink line, I decided to literally get to the bottom.
I like to read up on a new subject during the long, Maine winters, and this pre-season was devoted to entomology. So far, I had learned enough to know that earthworms do not frequent the rocky creek bottoms (at least not naturally), but that hellgrammites do, and bear uncanny resemblance to chocolate cake. Tying on my best offering, I cast, let sink, and retrieved with a slow, twitching strip. The first cast served to determine the correct drift, while the second served the cake to the customer. A nice ten-inch brook trout came to my hand, and I decided that I had worked hard enough that day for a meal of my own. (This water is pretty much a put-and-take fishery anyway.)
One reason I like to keep a fish now and then is so that I can learn what the diet on a particular stream is. I do know that there are other, less, ah…permanent methods to this, such as stomach pumps and seines, and I use those when I am not so hungry myself. The effort proved both delicious and rewarding because the first food item I saw was a nice, dark hellgrammite. I laughed, however when I also noticed two earthworms. Cake and ice cream. I decided that I felt pretty good about fooling a fish that had fooled the worm-dunkers!