Back from Depot and overall a fun and productive fishing trip. Guys before us (Mon-Wed) were leaving as we got there with 6 grilse in the cooler. The warden came in on Tuesday and told them it was CandR and the fish they had caught Monday and Tues were fair game to keep as they didn't know about the CandR ruling.
Wednesday: American Pool seemed to be holding the most fish initially, with lots of jumping on Wed afternoon (20-30 jumps in a 2 hour period). Back for a quick supper then back down after hitting camp pool and Bridge pool. At A. Pool, managed 3 short lived hook ups Wed night just before dark along with the Mrs and the others missing a few as well.
Thursday: Hit American Pool at first light and landed a grilse on the first pass through. Relatively quiet after that with a few jumps here and there to keep folks interested. We fished a variety of pools that AM (Camp,Dead Crow,Alder Run) with nothing except one rise at Alder Run. After early lunch we loaded up the ATV's and headed to Hook Em and Loose Em, Moose Brook, and Scott Pool (about a 5 km Atv ride. Good easy trail. Nothing showing or taking there other than catching two 12" trout). Headed back to camp and 2 of us headed up to see/check out upper stretch pools (42nd and unnamed). Not much of a pool to speak of and no fish seen or taking. Evening we fished American ( caught one 22" grilse and the Mrs lost a salmon, the only one we saw in 3 days), Alder run (missed a grilse). Overall things were really quiet ALL day..not what I expected. Made a short pitstop at the Bridge Pool on the way back and managed to land two beauty trout just at dark on the way home...a 16 and a 14 incher. No net and no beach...wish I had that on video. Kept those two for my Dad as he doesn't fish much anymore.
Friday AM: Slow start at American for only 2 of us with almost no fish showing or taking. Finally hooked and landed a 22" grilse at 0900 after fishing since 0600, and it was a cold morning. Made another few passes and headed for Alder run (High Bank pool as some call it). Landed a 21" grilse there in the first 5 minutes, hooking up just in front of the 2 big rocks at the start of the pool. 10 minutes later my buddy hooked up on one 1/2 way through, but practiced his skills in the art of "long line release" and lost it (LOL). I hooked up another 10 minutes after that, a nice 24" grilse. Fished one more pass and headed for the camp as we had to leave by noon to get home for an appointment.
Overall the fishing was slightly above average for my previous experiences at Crown Reserve. Seemed like the group before really timed it well, and things were petering a bit as we got there. Almost seemed as though the fish that were there Wed afternoon moved up stream overnight, and then a few new ones started arriving on Friday AM (IMO). Two of our group were complete novices so their "fly in the water time" was limited ( plus neither of them fished the last morning at all). Water level was good, air temperature was great ( 8 deg at night), virtually NO BUGS to speak of, and the camp was bug/mouse free. One of my goals was to see/fish every pool on the stretch, so mission accomplished there.
Great trip overall with some pretty good fishing in spurts. In hindsight I think I would have given the Alder Run pool ( 1/2 way to the American) alot more attention as it is a long slow,deep pool that is very easy to fish and cast. I actually liked it alot more than the American.
Will add some pics later when I figure out how.
Thanks again for all the info early. Much appreciated.
RH
