Yours truly and FAOL member-slash-All-Star pspaint braved the elements on Christmas Eve morning (how oxymoronic does THAT sound?) to bag a few creek chubs on a small Lake Ontario tributary. Rain from the previous day had put some color into the water, brought it up considerably from its previous status as low-n-clear, and turned it into a veritable jacuzzi of a balmy 44 degrees F. Confident that the prior day’s winds were a distant memory, we ventured out armed to the hilt and prepared for whatever curveballs those wily chubs could throw our way. Flying in the face of decades of established chubbery, and after much painful deliberation, we were determined to subdue our quarry with nothing but fly gear.
Hours of dogged line whipping proved fruitless, despite over two dozen rod-bending bouts with an army of pesky brown trout. Due to the absolute lack of creek chub action, I am forced to (in utter embarrassment) present the following pictures of some of our B-grade conquests. My most sincere apologies.
First of the day:
Phil starts out strong:
These dang browns won’t stop harrassing my chub flies
Phil is apparently having the same problem…
Though Phil initially thought he’d hooked a monster Salmon River-sized chub, he was met with disappointment yet again:
Misfortune strikes again!
Lady luck must have had a good laugh with this one:
Next time, we’ll just be resigned to catching trout like this steelhead. They put up a decent fight, even if they aren’t chubs…
And here’s one from the previous day for Kerry Stratton. See, even a toughguy breaks down and smiles every now and again!
Wishing you all safe, happy, and relaxing holidays!!! May your pursuit of creek chubs and suckers be every bit as unsuccessful as ours!
Thank you all for your sympathy. It is always comforting to know that there is someone who’s been down that road before…
One particularly frightening thought occurred to us during the course of that day: that we’d have to start lining chubs. Fortunately it didn’t come to that, as we remained true to fair and sporting ways.
Joking aside, it was one hell of a ride! 25 (+/-) landed that day, and many more that should have been.
MrFTG,
Don’t worry. The weather, the moon phase, and water temps will change and you WILL eventually find those elusive chubs.
Until then just think of those easy fins as practice.
ps WTG! Those are amazing fish!!!
Marty, you guys stink! LOL! Although rain is in the forecast for Jan.1 - think you can duplicate that “chub” hunting up on the Gunpowder? Hope to see ya there…
Mike K.
Actually chub are MUCH smarter than trout, so they had a laugh laying off your flies and letting the trout get caught, OR the browns you caught already ATE the chub before you got there!
Thanks for the photos!
Happy New Year!
Doug
Sometimes when the chub are scarce you could try fishing a little farther down the creek where the Browns don’t hang out. Nasty coarse fish like those trout can be a strain on your equipment and patience . How did you ever keep it together when that evil steelhead crashed the party. Perhaps consider therapy after trying days like you just had. You know, to get your stress levels down to normal again. Thankfully the folks 0n FAOL are always here with a sympathetic ear eager to help out in any crisis. Hang in there. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Ps. at the Lowell fish in while everybody was being annoyed by plenty of those awefull cutthroat trout, I was dead on with 4 trophy whitefish on the first day. You can bet the gang back at camp were envious of my success where they had only managed a whack of cutties. I of course was gratious in my victory over the wily whitefish. Secretly inside I had a hard time holding in my pride. Sadly the next couple of days the cutties found me and it went downhill from there.
I feel your guy’s pain. I’ve had many a day ruined by the brutish brown trout. There is nothing like an exciting day of fishing when chubs are on the bite. Thank god there are still a few streams left where the trout are fished out and the wily chubs still swim wild and free.
P. S. I don’t suppose any of you guys could tip me off to a good chub hotspot could you? I’m still kind of new when it comes to chub fishing and I need a little help with a few patterns and techniques, too. Then I can impress my friends. So far all I catch are little ones. I must be doing something wrong.
