Grand River, Elora, Ontario

[lastchance]

I'm fishing the Grand River for the first time in the middle of June. I'm looking for some advice on flies to take, etc. I'm staying at a bed and breakfast.
Thanks

[pspaint]

Lots of caddis! It's a typical tailwater, so any of your favorite patterns, for that type of fishing, should suffice.

I never fished it in Elora, but I have fished it around Fergus. From what i've seen, it's very nice around the Elora Gorge. There's also some very good smallie fishing down in that area.

[pharper]

Check the Hatch chart...
http://www.grandrivertroutfitters.co...chartgrand.htm
and stop into their shop in Fergus.

June will have lots of caddis as mentioned above (try a little black caddis), but also bring some flies just incase you happen upon a grey drake hatch (or Hendrikson, brown drake, etc) depending on when you're there.

It really is a beautiful river, worth exploring upstream and down if you have the time.
Elora:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/pharps/Sc...18649335037842
The Grand downstream of Elora:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/pharps/Ma...11927711219506

[pharper]

Oh and check this write up on the Grand by Ian Martin:
http://www.flyfisherman.com/westernc...ver/index.html

[Andrew Mann]

Hey Lastchance,

You'll love the Grand. It's a great river with lots of qualtiy browns. If you're not going to be fishing with a guide, send me an email, and I'll pm you with a number of good access points.

I live about 1.5 hours from the Grand, and fish it a few times a year (usually in July and August). Because I teach, I can never make it there for the great hatches of May and June. By the time I show up in late July and early August, the fish seem to turn away from anything bigger than #20!

Although many anglers take sizabe browns on dries and nymphs, I usually take them on streamers. Some useful patterns include sculpins, white wooly buggers, and white zonkers. A small blue over white clouser will produce a lot of small browns (12" or less). I've only fished the Grand twice in the last two years, but I landed a 23" brown on the first trip, and lost a 25"+ fish on the second. I generally land between 8 - 12 small browns on a outing (usually during mid-day in July or August).

There are a number of sections of the river where special regulations apply. In general, fish with a single, barbless hook only. You may use only one fly (no dropper rigs). This is enforced, so be careful.

Check out

http://www.grandrivertroutfitters.com

They'll provide you with a lot of information, and are very helpful with where to fish and what flies to use during the time you'll be visiting. Guides can also be arranged through that store.

If there's anything else with which I can help, let me know.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Greg H]

You could also post your questions here http://flyfishingforums.hipwader.com/viewforum.php?id=3 which is basically the local Ontario Flyfishing BB.

You may like to monitor this site in the week prior to arrival http://www.grandriver.ca/index/docum...&sub1=0&sub2=0

Here are some pics to increase enthusiasm
http://www.friendsofthegrandriver.com/map.htm#

[Mato Kuwapi]

I put a lot of time in on that section of the Grand and on Hipwader.com (one of the mods). Who knows...I may even be on the water when you are. (If I'm not in Michigan)

You picked the best time to be on the river there. It's caddis, caddis, and caddis and you can get fish all day long...but you'll have lots of other hatches coming off that you can play with, too. The fish are still cooperative and the water temps are still cool enough to keep the fish happy. I could write a book but I won't.

The front page photo on this site was on the Grand last June at around 6 AM.
http://fcfc.ca and if you click the GALLERY button, it will take you to the photo section. Anything with a nice brown on is pretty much going to be from the Grand, but here's a couple of the better ones:
http://fcfc.ca/fcfc_gallery/slides/L...R%20Brown.html
This one was caught on a #24 Trico spinner in August.

http://fcfc.ca/fcfc_gallery/slides/B...r%20Brown.html
(This fellow, Brian P. is a REALLY good guide by the way) That fish was caught one of his little dry fly patterns. I was thumping him in the numbers but he slammed me good with the biggest fish of the evening.

It's rare to catch browns like these on little dry flies but that's what is so attractive about the Grand. I will say that things are changing and these bigger fish are starting to become more nocturnal and streamers and big flies are the ticket more times than not.

I need to rebuild those pages and group them into watersheds or something.

Keep an eye on the Grand River Troutfitters River Conditions page...(someone else posted it above here) and also this page:
http://www.hooklineandsinker.ca/tfc/...onditions.html
There won't be much on either of these sites until just before the opener on April 26 but its worth looking at the photos to get the excitement up.

Just in closing...this is a nice end to a perfect Grand River day. Watching the sun go down from the Trestle Bridge.
http://fcfc.ca/fcfc_gallery/slides/Grand%20Sunset5.html