Deerfield River - 11/7/09

A scheduled canopy tour at New Englands' largest zip line park located at Berkshire East, Charlemont NH allowed for a couple hours of early morning fishing on my homewater, the Deerfield River. After a short hike, I arrived to a stretch on the lower section of the Deerfield around 0630 with temperatures hovering around a "mild" 25 degrees and flows at ~1500 CFS and dropping.
The mountaineous terrain prevented the early morning sun from melting the ice that filled my guides. I was even unaware of my reel iced over until I hooked into my first trout of the morning, when my line was frozen to the reel.
Patiently waiting for the water level to drop and expose the larger boulders that created the slack water and seams which eventually would congregate the trout, the morning silence was occasionally broken with the distant vocalizations of mallard ducks flying up the river. The dropping water level allowed easier wading to the middle of the river. I fished a two rig system: Copper John (dropper) followed by an egg pattern. A strike indicator was used to help keep the flies on the edge of the seam. After a few quick strikes, I hooked into a large rainbow, which took me a little ways down river, until i finally netted the fat 17 inch. Dead drifting the same run, I hooked into another nice rainbow. Although not as big, the very sharp shaped fins and distinct color patttern indicated a wild rainbow born in the river. A cold but exciting morning lasted until 0830 when I had to leave for the canopy tours.