Fly Fishing the Flood

Just recently, the week of Thanksgiving, I was in central Missouri…Lebanon, the home of Bennet Spring to do a little catch and release fishing. Our week consisted of 4-5 days of pheasant hunting in Nebraska and afterward we headed south and a bit east to Bennet for some catch/release. The hunting was awesome and I was quite excited for a day and a half on Bennet but as the day neared I could see that the weather folks were calling for a big rain event; you know when they are at 100% chance of rain for two days that they aren’t messing around.

We pulled in early on Friday, the 27^th of November, grabbed our keys to Duplex #5 and unloaded our stuff. As we neared the stream I could see that it was a big off-colored but not so bad that it would greatly affect the fishing. I slid into my waders and other gear, then grabbed my 6-weight rod with a type 1 sink tip line and made my way towards the spring. It was 37 degrees and raining pretty steadily so no surprise that I was the only one out on the stream. I should say, the only “human” fisherman. I did see this magnificent eagle (see below). I’ll count him as the only other fishermen out on the stream for the first two hours.
I tied on a size 6 black wooly and made a cast across stream, made a couple of upstream mends, then allowed the fly to drift…when I felt my first pop of the day. I strip set but missed the fish, then quickly picked up the line and placed the fly back into the same spot. I gave the fly a couple of soft strips and once again felt a tug…this time my strip set was successful and I had hooked up with my first trout of the trip.

Five hours later is was still raining…I had taken a couple hours from 10am to noon to warm up and get some lunch and as it neared 3pm I arrived at just above the dam in zone 1. I made a cast into the pool above the dam, waited until the fly settled and slowly retrieved the same black wooly (I had retied twice on the day). Bang, there it was, another strip set and I was landing my 49^th trout of the day…enough was enough and as I walked back to the duplex I thought back on the day; I had landed trout consistently, about 10 an hour and at one point landed a very heavy hen ‘bow’ that was a bit over 20 inches and weighed right at 5 pounds. It just proves that you can still be effective with the right fly and a little tenacity when it comes to the weather.
The next time you are on the fence about fishing or sitting…wade carefully and give it a go. I think you will find that many of the big fish in a stream are up and searching for a good meal. Try a dark wooly and don’t be afraid to go big. You might just find that being the only guy out on the stream….it is a great deal….plenty of ‘elbow-room’.