by DanStag
-October 27, 2021
The boots were hardly dry from the previous trip. The waders weren’t yet put away. And
the gear was scattered everywhere, all in disarray.
Then the text came: “Wanna wet a line together?” “Heck yeah. Just say when and
where!” shot the reply, without even thinking.
So began a fall one-day trip to Bennett Springs on October 27, 2021 by Scott Payne, AL
Harper and Dan Staggenborg (DanStag).
As the day approached and the forecast for a half day of rain became increasingly certain,
2 thoughts came to mind: “Good. It will keep away the wimpy fishermen” and “ I guess
you have to REALLY want it”, to withstand those elements. I wanted it.
So, it was up at 4 and on the road by 5 to meet the guys for early start. The chatty ride
down didn’t seem all that long and we found ourselves buying tags at the Bennett Spring
lodge a bit after 8 am; suited up on the water at 8:30.
The trip was intended to try some new ideas and techniques. Scott had a new midge and
another egg pattern tied with an orange glass bead.
Scott started below the Holland dam hole where we had parked. AL and Dan walked up
to start at the spring, on the far side against the bank away from the parking lot.
Dan picked up 2-3 and worked down to where the water got too deep to wade. It’s easy
enough to turn around and fish toward the parking lot bank where lots of fish sit in water
that’s 8” deep and exiting the spring. Scott joined us there and he & Dan and fished that
spot and picked up several fish each , with AL working the deeper water.
The rig used was a tippet about 3 feet long. The indicator was about 1 foot from the top
to allow for sliding up and down as depth required. About 12-15” below the indy a small
(not tiny) split shot was attached. 18” below the weight, an unweighted egg pattern was
tied on. To the back of the egg pattern was tied in 12-18” of tippet and one of Scott’s
“experimental” flies. It was a size 16 unweighted midge with a red glass bead. The body
was under tied with white thread, colored orange (with a sharpie) and wrapped with semi-
clear yellow-silver holographic tinsel.
This fly worked well even in shallow water. Here’s why: the split shot got the flies down
on the bottom. The unweighted flies fluttered in the current. The weight ticked off the
bottom and the flies were in the perfect zone where the flies wouldn’t snag too often. The
fish would see the egg and go for Scott’s trailer fly (christened the “house of Payne”).
After losing the whole rig snapping the fluorocarbon right at the split shot, Dan put on his
Bennett Spring Killer (BSK) with an extra long 20”+ piece down to a primrose and pearl
midge The BSK didn’t fail. (It never does). By tying that fly heavy, it eliminated the need
for a split shot which is “ever problematic”. In the area near the spring, the BSK out
performed the chenille egg pattern 5 to 1.
At the spring, both the shallow water and the deeper water (main current and slower
against the bank) yielded quite a number of fish. Didn’t make it to the gage house hole,
before we broke for lunch.
We remarked that the fish while fairly plentiful, were not of a huge size. Most were in
the 10-14” range. Scott caught a 15-16” trout or two.
Ate lunch at the table below the Holland Dam and fished there afterward. Scott caught 6
and Dan caught 5 there, and AL was starting to hit his stride using a flash back bead
head, pheasant tail nymph with some pretty good success.
The last 2 hours of the day we made our way down to the riffles below the stone bridge,
where things got exciting.
The water is knee to thigh deep, fast, and the bottom is bowling ball sized, greasy
boulders. By then, the promised rain started in earnest.
In this spot the long rig came into its own. Because of the shape of the bottom, there are
an abundance of places for the fish to “nestle in” and dart up to grab food. The split shot
or heavy fly got the fly down quickly into “the zone” and it hovered the unweighted flies
as they fluttered in current while passing over the rocks. The action was good; fish were
being caught every few minutes. Each of us took a good number of fish, in spite of the
pounding rain. AL even picked one up on a streamer.
For Dan, the Primrose and Pearl out performed the BSK 8 to 1 in that water. (Thanks,
Kenny. )
After a few hours of good action, we moved down to the far bend (above the red cliff
face), where there was deeper and much slower water.
Lots of fish were visible in the area of the bend, but only a couple bites and no fish.
Surprisingly, there was a small grey/white/tan hatch, size 18-20, even in the rain. By then
the conditions prevailed and rather than re-rigging, we decided to call it a day, around
3:15. On the way home a stop at Weavers (just outside the park) to stock up, rounded out
the trip.
A couple takeaways (for me anyway):
- NEVER use split shot. Use a heavy fly (bead head at least, instead. )
- The bites are usually very, very subtle. Sometimes all you get is a pause. Try to
set on the start of the dip. (Easy to say, hard to do. ) Try to keep minimal line out
and off the water. The extra split second gained might be the difference. - Assume any drift stops are a fish and set the hook. If it’s a snag, no loss.
- There are usually fish lurking in a depression in fast shallow water.
- Fish tend to hang at a certain stratus/depth, based on pecking order. This means in
deeper water, bigger fish will be at the bottom getting what’s tumbling along the
bottom. However, there are fish to be caught at other layers. Adjust your depth
several times in the same hole, even after catching fish, to present to different
fish. - Say what you will, I’ve not yet found a more versatile, rugged, cheaper, easier to
use float/indicator than the toothpick in colored styrofoam. (My opinion). I may
give the hopper dropper a chance, since trout occasionally hit your float. Have no
idea how to adjust depth on that.
At the end of the day, AL caught nearly a dozen, Dan caught 25 and Scott brought 42 to
the net.
The orange glass bead egg imitation got a couple of bites, but the fish sensed the hard
texture and spit it right out. More experimentation.
Funny story: while untangling my tippet after an unsuccessful hook set, I found my
“house of Payne” fly dangling about 3” out of the water. Wouldn’t ya know it, one of the
numerous trout that hung about my feet, made a jump for the fly and momentarily had it !
Ha ha!
All in all, a great fishing day with good guys, awesome fellowship. Learned something
new, plus a few new flies and techniques to refine.
What’s not to want about that ?
