Yes, it’s true. I had the most success I’ve ever had fly fishing for trout yesterday.
I went and visited Todd Opsal at On The Creek Fly Shop before heading west to Crawford County, and he talked to me about a fly I’d never used before, the Copper John. Todd suggested I tie on a hopper surface fly with a Copper John dropper. So that’s what I did. My second cast yielded a fish.
Plum Creek Brown on a Copper John
As for where I fished, I wanted to try a couple of streams I haven’t fished previously. Using Google Maps and the DNR Trout Stream data, I found two streams that looked good. A year ago I called someone at the Crawford County Government Offices and asked if there were any county parks with camping there (there aren’t). I also got to talking with the man on the phone about trout fishing and he said “Plum Creek is the best trout stream in Crawford County”. For some reason that stuck in my brain. Well the stats do look good (5.2 miles of Class 1 Trout water, native Brook and Brown Trout, no stocking), and I imagine that had something to do with him claiming it was the best trout stream in the county.
The upper reaches of Plum Creek in Crawford County
I don’t know that you can blankly state a particular stream is the best out of all the streams in Crawford County. That place is an embarrassment of riches, with so many good trout streams you’d be hard pressed to fish them all. Even non-designated streams are full of trout!
Todd Opsal of On the Creek Fly Shop, whom I may have mentioned earlier having helped me with my fly choices, concurred that Plum Creek was a nice choice, and he had fished it once before and enjoyed it, and told me about a friend of his, Bill, who fished the lower section of the creek and got some nice biggerr fish.
My second choice was one I’ll leave off the books, but it’s near another creek I’ve fished that is full of fish, and it worked out nicely for me yesterday and, well, you know…
Another nice place to fish in Crawford County
So, I fished a couple of great places, caught a lot of nice fish, and feel really good about it all. It’s hard to beat seeing a fish slam your hopper fly off the surface of the water seconds after it lands on the water with so much force it startles you.
The events leading up to this moment were a great deal of fun.
Tom,
There is some good stream fishing happening in your photo’s on Plum Creek of Crawford county, nice trout. I would love to give this creek a good old fashion try. the coordinates would be of great help finding a good spot.
Lorenzo,
I can’t kiss and tell, meaning I won’t give out coordinates to spots on trout streams. However, the WDNR has great maps by County that show all designated trout streams in each county.
There is a link on the left side of the blog to these maps. I highly recommend you take a look. The adventure in discovering these hidden gems is a big part of the fun for me!
Tom
Tom,
Very appropriately said and greatly appreciated on my part. You did indeed say it best that the true joy of fly fishing is the discovery of hidden gem locations. For me as well, it is pure pleasure.
Thanks and “Tight Lines”.
Lorenzo