Took my canoe to Spada for the first time today. What a beautiful place. Launched from #3 just about noon under cloudy skies and a little misty rain with light winds out of the west. Paddled to the northern shore where the wind was calm and then westward staying close to the shore, trolling all the way. It is indeed deep along that shore. The land comes steeply down to the water and just keeps on going. I tried black leech, black nymph and a couple of grey and tan wet flies. Nothing. But the mist lifted and it was a fine place to paddle so I just enjoyed the quiet. There wasn’t another soul to be seen or heard. After about 90 minutes of this I decided to cut out into the breeze and drift back toward the launch. (Word to the wise: note well the location of the launch when you head out here- it’s easy to lose sight of in marginal visibility.) Since I’d had no luck at all with what I’d been dragging I decided to really change it up. I tied on a silver Hotshot, clipped it down to a single barbless to make it legal, put a handful of split shot on the line and let out just about my whole spool. Then I let the wind take me home. Bang! Fish on! I reeled and reeled and got him right to the boat before he spit it. Sent the line back out. Bang! Bang! The strikes came one after another. I got at least eight solid strikes in the next half hour but only managed to get three fish close to the boat. And I never touched a one of ‘em. (Darned single barbless.) They all looked to be about 8-10”. I would have kept on fishing but I ran short on time and had to load out. I will go back.

Thanks to this site for turning me on to a gem in my backyard.

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