Yesterday afternoon I headed to Whiteman’s Creek near Brantford to spend the last day of trout season on a piece of water I have never fished and I was rewarded for my efforts on a number of levels… I started fishing around 1:30 and got off the water as darkness fell and was pleased with how the afternoon went in spite of how it ended.
After parking on Cleaver Road I fished upriver towards Mill Street and I was very impressed with the quality and number of pools in this stretch of the creek. As I was fishing the thought that came to my mind was that if the Grand River and the Credit River had a child it would be Whiteman’s Creek. Where the 
Grand River is wide and has well-marked access points the Credit is more narrow with fewer access points and it is arguably more technical because of the overhanging trees and higher gradient. Combine the two and you have Whiteman’s Creek: a beautiful creek (but a river in every sense of the word) that is wider than the Credit with well-defined and easily accessible pools full of rainbow and brown trout. Frankly, if you have not fished Whiteman’s you should make a point of doing so next season. I was very pleased with how my day was going until I approached what I had decided was going to be my final pool of the day. As I stepped into the pool and started to cast 3 anglers appeared who were working their way downstream stepped into the pool in front of me and proceeded to clean out the pool in a matter of minutes.
I was stunned.
I stopped casting as soon as the first angler appeared to see what he was going to do and I was more than disappointed when he barely acknowledged my presence before casting into the water I was fishing. He was joined by two companions who followed his example and I immediately determined that my fishing – at least in their presence – was over.
Have you ever had one of those moments when circumstances overwhelm previously laid plans and you recognize in a split second that you have a decision to accept the unplanned circumstances or not? This was one of those moments. Just as I was weighing in my mind whether I should raise the issue of “courtesy” I decided to say hello to the angler nearest me and our conversation immediately changed the tenor of the situation. He was obviously the senior member of the group and was very friendly and asked where I was from. I listened quietly as he spoke and was humbled by his words. After exchanging initial pleasantries he said that he was spending more time fishing because he recently lost both his father and brother to cancer and this, the last day of trout season, was being especially kind to him – and he then smiled…
Frankly, I felt a bit ashamed by my initial reaction to the situation just moments before. Here I was feeling put out by the fact that these guys – locals at that – had in my mind taken a liberty that a more considerate angler would not have considered – and I was feeling put out. As the realization hit me of what this day on the water meant to my new acquaintance and my initial reaction to his presence I felt ashamed. Who the heck am I to judge?
We wished each other ‘tight lines’ and as I turned around and headed back towards my car all I could think of was, “I hope I never come across as one of those anglers who give fly fishing a bad name.” As the situation unfolded I could have done one of two things: made a fuss or acted politely. Thankfully, I changed my attitude with the circumstances and decided I was going to accept in a positive light what might have otherwise been a negative end to a great day. Like they say, it doesn’t really matter what cards you are dealt, it’s how you play them that counts.
And one final note. As I got back to my car I decided to make one last cast and landed my last little brown of the day – and I smiled.
And so ended my 2011 trout season…
With the 2012 trout opener now on the horizon many anglers are starting to think about digging their gear out of the basement and figuring out what flies they need before they hit the river – and we are doing something similar. In preparation for the opening of our new Fergus fly shop on the banks of the Grand River we have placed custom orders with local fly tyers who are intimately familiar with local patterns. These flies will be available at WILSON’S in the coming weeks and if you are not sure what you need to start the season off on the right foot check out the Ontario hatch charts in the members section of our website. If you are not aware we have hatch charts for the following Ontario fly fishing destinations on our website at no cost:
- Beaver River
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