Crane Report 3/11

[drew03cmc]

Well, I made the drive to Crane Creek today and was kind of disappointed. I am not as good a fisherman as I had delusions of being. The stream is gorgeous and the fish...well, I needn't say more about them. I started at the City Park and fished upstream of the red bridge as well as downstream of the road, halfway to the dairy farm. To start off with, I was using my Scott 8.5' 5wt and a 9' 5x leader. Well, with a #14 GRHE under a Thingamabobber, I was fishing the nymph rig to anything that looked fishy around the red bridge when the indicator jumped. Well, after a hook set, the prized 7" McCloud came to hand. About an hour later, I was downstream of the road, swinging a black #10 BH bugger to anything I could reach and when it came around a rootwad, the line went tight and the fight was on...well, kind of. It was another 7" rainbow.

Now for the disappointment. The only fish of size that I saw was two 12" plus fish that I spooked in the park. darn they were shallow, and I could not see them until they fled the scene of the intrusion. Now, I also saw one more fish in the City Park area and without giving away the location, I swung a bugger around the rootwad of a tree lying parallel to the current and saw a fish flashing my bugger. I got a bit antsy on the hookset and pulled it away from the big fish of the day.

I was a little peeved when I was fishing downstream from the park and I hear a chainsaw. Well, I am standing on a gravel bar, drifting a bugger into an undercut and darn tree falls not forty yards from the creek throwing branches a crap my direction. I was pissed.

Now, after I ate lunch, I went to the dairy farm access and grabbed the spinning rod and a Rooster tail. I tossed the Rooster Tail up underneath the bridge there and caught another 7" bow.

All in all, I did better than I anticipated, but I was hoping for more fish and maybe bigger fish. I wish I lived closer to the creek so I could fish it more often.

Now, can I ask a few questions since this type of creek fishing is new to me.

How do you fish the deeper, faster water? How heavy a fly is normally used for fishing these types of situations?

[laker67]

Well glad you got out and about Drew. Thanks for the report. Sometimes that dang old crane creek will send you home talking to yourself. Pm duckydoty and ask about his depth charges. Just might be the ticket on your next trip.

[Andrew324]

I fished the lower access this morning before heading to Roaring River to fish for the day. I must have left before you swang by, I could have given you some of my flies! When I can get off campus, I fish Crane a time or two every week or so.

As far as the deep fast water, I sometimes tie a heavily wieghted nymph or streamer onto some monofilament. I got that idea from Joe Humphrey's Trout Tactics and its worked a few times, but mono's thin diameter means less air and water resistance, and less chance of un-natural drag. You just kinda have to adjust your cast waiting to feel the tug of the fly on your backcast, but every spot on Crane requires you to adjust your cast right? Roll casting is hard with mono though, that's the downside.

Crane teaches me lessons everytime I go there, and I think it makes you a more precise and observant fisherman to fish there. Big fish at Crane for me are like the first time you kiss a girl, you wonder to yourself "did that just happen?" And it doesn't happen on every date.

[drew03cmc]

I fished the lower access this morning before heading to Roaring River to fish for the day. I must have left before you swang by, I could have given you some of my flies! When I can get off campus, I fish Crane a time or two every week or so.

As far as the deep fast water, I sometimes tie a heavily wieghted nymph or streamer onto some monofilament. I got that idea from Joe Humphrey's Trout Tactics and its worked a few times, but mono's thin diameter means less air and water resistance, and less chance of un-natural drag. You just kinda have to adjust your cast waiting to feel the tug of the fly on your backcast, but every spot on Crane requires you to adjust your cast right? Roll casting is hard with mono though, that's the downside.

Crane teaches me lessons everytime I go there, and I think it makes you a more precise and observant fisherman to fish there. Big fish at Crane for me are like the first time you kiss a girl, you wonder to yourself "did that just happen?" And it doesn't happen on every date.

Wow, thank you. I would guess that a heavy conehead bugger would work, as would a nymph on a #14 hook with lead on the shank and a tung head...I know I need a shorter 4wt fly rod, but you know how those needs go...

Laker, I think I will do that. Thanks!

[mic]

How do you fish the deeper, faster water? How heavy a fly is normally used for fishing these types of situations?

I haven't had the opportunity to try it myself yet, but I read about the following setup. Tie on your tippet as normal, but tie on an second ten to twelve inches with a double surgeon's knot. Make sure you leave three to four inches of tag from the upper line. Tie a simple overhand knot at the end of the tag. Add split shot as needed to get the depth you need. If the split shot catches the bottom, the overhand knot will give, split shot slips off, and you don't use your fly. Again, I haven't tried it yet, but the rig makes sense to me.

[ozark trout fisher]

How do you fish the deeper, faster water? How heavy a fly is normally used for fishing these types of situations?

I'm not familiar with Crane itself, but I fish a lot of similar streams, and generally in faster deeper water I'll just add split shot as opposed to going to a heavier fly.

I find on those little wild trout creeks, the bigger, heavier flies generally cut down pretty heavily into the numbers of fish you catch. So I find its often better to use something like a #16 Hare's Ear with a split shot or two than to go to something like a conehead woolly-but I've never fished Crane and it may be different there.

[drew03cmc]

I'm not familiar with Crane itself, but I fish a lot of similar streams, and generally in faster deeper water I'll just add split shot as opposed to going to a heavier fly.

I find on those little wild trout creeks, the bigger, heavier flies generally cut down pretty heavily into the numbers of fish you catch. So I find its often better to use something like a #16 Hare's Ear with a split shot or two than to go to something like a conehead woolly-but I've never fished Crane and it may be different there.

That is kind of what I was thinking, but I don't know much about it. I guess I need to get some non-lead shot to put on my leader when fishing these types of creeks.

[Andrew324]

I do agree with ozark trout fisher, I think sometimes when trying to "match the hatch" that size is more important than color, etc. and when I have seined Crane usually all the nymphs are tiny. But I do think that its fine to fish bigger flies on Crane. I tie my nymphs as big as 10 and usually fish 12, and have had all kinds of fish hit mohair leeches tied big. Tim told me a few weeks ago he likes bigger flies on Crane, and I agree.

I have the most success on Crane when I switch and experiment with flies and weight. It's tedious work and its the kind of fishing people don't usually like. My friends poke fun of me when they think I spend more time messing with my flies and rig than actually fishing, but it usually pays off. The other day at Taney I spent an hour in the pouring rain fiddling with that, and right when my buddy was ready to split I started getting fish on every presentation.

I think those fish at Crane aren't overly picky about what you throw at them. What I think matters is stealth, staying out of the water, presentation and movement.

My family is from around the Rolla/Vienna/St. James area. I need to hit ozark trout fisher up the next time I fish those small blue ribbons in that area.

[ozark trout fisher]

That is kind of what I was thinking, but I don't know much about it. I guess I need to get some non-lead shot to put on my leader when fishing these types of creeks.

It sounds like you're doing fine. As I understand, Crane is a pretty difficult spring creek, quite a bit tougher than Little Piney, Mill and the other Gasconade valley trout creeks that I spend most of my time on. I need to get down there sometime soon and see if my wild trout fishing techniques that I've learned on those creeks is adequate for tougher water.

[duckydoty]

Well, I made the drive to Crane Creek today and was kind of disappointed. I am not as good a fisherman as I had delusions of being. The stream is gorgeous and the fish...well, I needn't say more about them. I started at the City Park and fished upstream of the red bridge as well as downstream of the road, halfway to the dairy farm. To start off with, I was using my Scott 8.5' 5wt and a 9' 5x leader. Well, with a #14 GRHE under a Thingamabobber, I was fishing the nymph rig to anything that looked fishy around the red bridge when the indicator jumped. Well, after a hook set, the prized 7" McCloud came to hand. About an hour later, I was downstream of the road, swinging a black #10 BH bugger to anything I could reach and when it came around a rootwad, the line went tight and the fight was on...well, kind of. It was another 7" rainbow.

Now for the disappointment. The only fish of size that I saw was two 12" plus fish that I spooked in the park. darn they were shallow, and I could not see them until they fled the scene of the intrusion. Now, I also saw one more fish in the City Park area and without giving away the location, I swung a bugger around the rootwad of a tree lying parallel to the current and saw a fish flashing my bugger. I got a bit antsy on the hookset and pulled it away from the big fish of the day.

I was a little peeved when I was fishing downstream from the park and I hear a chainsaw. Well, I am standing on a gravel bar, drifting a bugger into an undercut and darn tree falls not forty yards from the creek throwing branches a crap my direction. I was pissed.

Now, after I ate lunch, I went to the dairy farm access and grabbed the spinning rod and a Rooster tail. I tossed the Rooster Tail up underneath the bridge there and caught another 7" bow.

All in all, I did better than I anticipated, but I was hoping for more fish and maybe bigger fish. I wish I lived closer to the creek so I could fish it more often.

Now, can I ask a few questions since this type of creek fishing is new to me.

How do you fish the deeper, faster water? How heavy a fly is normally used for fishing these types of situations?

There are a lot of different ways to fish Crane. It all depends on what you want out of it. Sometimes I like to fish drys over there and that is when I take my 7' 2 wt. Other times when I am polish nymphing the heavy flies, a 9' 4 or 5 wt work better for me. I would not fish an indicator over there, but that is just me. A lot of the holes at Crane, you basically have to sling-shot your fly into the hole or even just dip it in like fishing with a cane pole. It is just the only way to get into some of those really tight spots in the middle of all wood and logs. Most people pass these spots because they figure they could never get a fly down into them or even out of them, with a fish, impossable. That is where they are wrong. You have got to try them. Heavy, heavy flies are the only way to have some control and to get them down fast enough without washing away into all the wood with the current. Heavier line is needed also to bring the fish out faster with less of a chance of loosing the fish and your flies. Even with this, you are going to loose them often, but the payoff is BIG! No guts, no glory, simple as that.

There are alot of deeper pools with fast current flowing into them at Crane. These are great spots for polish nymphing with the heavy flies. Basically, you flick the fly upstream and high stick it back down stream past you keeping your line in contact with your fly leading it down stream at the same rate of the current. You are fishing by feel, and you will feel the bite if you are doing it properly. Hook set is always down stream. Again, heavy flies are needed for this. Some of my flies have 38 wraps of .15 dia. lead along with a 1/8 inch bead. Now these are tied on a size 10 TMC 3769, so it is not that big of a fly, just super heavy. I catch the 5 and 6 inchers on it all the time. Also I have ran these flies in tandem and even up to three of them to get the rig heavy enough to get down to where I wanted to be. If you are not hanging up on the bottom every now and then, your not fishing deep enough.

Hope I've inspired some ideas.