Not quite what comes to mind…
…when a Virginian angler says “March Brown” this time of year. Usually this is a reference to the burly mottled mayfly that hatches in fair numbers around April, a bug that gets due attention from trout as the water is warm enough for them to be inspecting the surface for a meal and the Quill Gordons and blue quills are dwindling.
This time it’s for the lake-run brown trout that have spawned last fall in Lake Ontario’s tributaries and have spent the last several months in those streams feeding on the bounty of eggs, baitfish and nymphs to prepare them for a journey back to the big Lake. Most of the spawning fish probably ride out a high water event long before the streams ice over in winter, but some of these chaps spend months living a second existence as stream trout through the coldest months of the year, giving the likes of me a chance to get some big browns before fall.
My wonderful wife allowed me a half-day of fishing fun this past weekend while we were visiting my parents in Rochester, up in a land still definitely in the clutches of old man winter. Sunday afternoon seemed best as the forecast highs were above freezing and the sun would be shining, giving the wind- and cold-wearied angler some minimal respite from the elements. I met up with a couple of fishin’ buddies who were kind enough to drive all the way from Buffalo just for a couple hours of camaraderie before I had to hightail it back to my folks’ place.
Between the time I started fishing and my buddies showed up, I fished some lovely water that was colder, clearer and lower than I expected given the rain and runoff they were experiencing just days earlier. And once I saw the droves of suckers, who perform their reproductive duties in the same streams that the trout use, but in the spring, I figured the browns would be gone and only a few rainbows, also spring-spawners, would be around. I toughed it out, fishing through the heaving masses of suckers and nymphed up a brace of handsome male browns, fighting better than expected given the water temperature. They put the 5-weight TFO to work and I was impressed with the performance of a lower-priced Albright reel (a GP series) that turned out to have a drag suitable for bulldogging lake-run browns.
This bastard would not hold still for a decent photo, and since he was motivated to get back to his hidey-hole, I snapped a crappy shot and let him be on his way.
After these fish, it was sucker time, so we hoofed it back to the cars and called it a day. So anticipating baby taking up most of my time this summer, it’ll probably be October or November before I get a crack at the Great Lakes fish again.
One parting photo for the lake-runs - until we meet again 8 months from now. Know you will haunt my dreams.
