Trout season opens the first of April in the Adirondacks but the prospects of taking trout on a fly is a challenge more demanding than on the more southern streams. The river often has ice cover on many sections and the water is much too cold for any hatches of insects to emerge. To be successful during the first couple weeks after ice-out, a determined fisherman must learn to fish the deeper sections of stream with nymphs, streamers or beadheads. Since the trout are lethargic and uninclined to chase after food, the bait or fly must be presented in close proximity to the trout in order to entice a strike. It often becomes necessary to use a weighted fly or to fish with a sinking or sink tip line to get the fly down properly. Patience and understanding of the trout's feeding habits under such extreme conditions is essential to success. Their metabolism is slowed and their need for sustenance is diminished. Therefore, there will be longer periods of time between feeding sessions.

Things are not hopeless however. Knowing the best times to fish and the proper methods as well as the more productive sections of the stream will greatly enhance your chances. The warmer rays of sun strike the pools and warm the tail sections first so early afternoon fishing at the tails of the pool often produces the best result. When fishing the deeper holding pools, make sure you are getting the fly down where the fish are. When I fished with my Father as a child in the famous Flume pool during ice-out, his repeated advice was "If you're not losing hooks, you're not fishing where the trout are." The ordinary garden variety worm was the most used bait for a hungry trout during those early spring days and you could often count the number of fish caught by the number of hooks lost on an outing. As I got a little older and was taught the technique of fly fishing, that same advise was often given and still holds true today.

I am often asked about the trout populations during the first part of the season before the stocking begins. The West Branch of the AuSable has as heavy a population of fish as any stream I have ever fished. On the first day of trout fishing as well as the last day of the season, it is possible to take a half dozen trout from almost any section of the stream. The hold over fish are abundant and every hundred yards of stream holds at least one, two or three pound fish. Some of the larger pools such as the Flume, the Wilmington Dam pool, High Falls pools, etc. can hold a half dozen or more large trout.

Although it's a fact that most of the real lunkers (those weighing over four pounds) are taken on bait such as minnows or worms, the knowledgeable fly fisherman can get their share of big fish.

There are certain patterns that consistently produce during early spring. They are muddler patterns, streamers such as the grey ghost, black ghost, hornberg and black nose dace being the most popular. My best results have been with large stone fly nymphs on larger hooks. Many a two or three pound trout has succomed to my offering of a size 8 black stone fly nymph fished slowly on the bottom. Another favorite and most productive pattern is the picket finn. An old time pattern that is as successful today as it was when my Dad, Ray Bergman and others fished the fly fifty or sixty years ago.

I have recently added a series of Ausable Wooly Buggers that have been tested and proven to be extremely effective during the early months of the season and even later on, when water conditions are cloudy or water levels are higher. At a later date, I will be giving the recipe for some of these patterns but when you come up, stop in at the Adirondack Sport shop and pick up a couple. You will be pleasantly surprised at how productive they are.

If you are not of the purist oriented breed who fishes on only flies, there is another method of taking trout during the early months of the season. This is the fairly new combination of spinner and fly quite aptly called spinner flies. It is simply a small spinner with a fly attached behind the spinner. Fishing spinner flies slowly on or near the bottom is an alternative to fishing live bait and accounts for many fish. Because the spinner flies have a single hook rather than the treble hooks found on most lures, it is possible to release the fish without doing them harm.

Whatever method or technique you want to use, don't hesitate to spend some of those nice spring days out fishing on your favorite trout stream. And remember that most important word....patience.

Check Out Ausable Wulff's Homepage

Adirondack Sport Shop
P.O. Box 125, Wilmington, NY 12997
(518) 946-2605
Email: awulff@whiteface.net
www.adirondackflyfishing.com

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