Fishing frustration, but a nice little brown nonetheless

I went to a brook today that runs into a Class 1 stream.  I've never had great luck there, even though I know it has both wild brook and brown trout in residence.  Today was as frustrating as ever, producing no fish (or strikes) for most of the time I was there.  When I returned to the bridge pool that I had started at I finally fooled two browns into taking a hot pink worm pattern.  The first was the largest and was lost while attempting to get my camera out.  The second, pictured below, was smaller but truly beautiful.  Working upstream from the bridge I hooked a nice brookie in the pool pictured below, but again lost it while getting ready to take a picture. 

Obviously, there are two things that I need to work on.  One is catching the fish that inhabit this brook and the other is photographing the ones that I do hook.  Maybe I should net the fish first and then worry about the picture.

Taking advantage

Taking advantage of the nice weather (and still no job), I headed to a class 1 stream to see if I can improve my winter trout fishing skills.  After drifting nymphs (tungsten surveyor, pumpkin head midge), picket pins and even a light Edson tiger to no avail through pools that I hoped had cold hungry fish lurking in them, I tied on a San Juan worm and continued downstream.  When I got to a bend in the stream where the bank overhangs the water, I finally had a taker.  I snapped a quick picture and watched as the brown trout swam back into the shelter that I had rudely extracted it from (last picture).  And that was it for the class 1 stream.

While there was much more of this stream to fish, I opted to go to a nearby brook and see if I could entice any of its residents to come out.  Unlike the class 1 stream, this one was running a little dirty and it seemed that my fishing trip was going to end without the excitement of seeing any of its beautiful little brookies.  After drifting a picket pin through one of the streams small pools, I lifted my fly rod up to begin to reel up the line and head home.  That's when the only brookie of the day decided to take the fly.  Better late than never.

Local water

With only a limited amount of time available to me for fishing, I headed to two local streams to see if I could entice some of the residents.  The first stream is stocked (and is supposed to have sea-run browns).  Previously I had caught a couple dozen browns, all about the same size and color, with next to no effort.  Today I caught five browns, but now they looked a lot nicer, with much better color.  As usual the sparrow nymph was effective at getting their attention.  As you can guess, no sea-run brown for me.  The second stream has both wild browns and brookies, but today it failed to prove it to me.  Maybe next time.

 

If only all streams had trout

I went out scouting some streams yesterday and on the way home stopped at this one for a quick fish.  While a few of the pools seemed quite nice (pics 2/3 and 4/5), no strikes were elicited by the light Edson Tiger I was casting.  The pool in pictures 4 and 5 was about two feet deep with a nice undercut bank below the tree.  It may be that this stream becomes very low and warm during the summer or that it has a poor supply of food and consequently holds no trout.  Or I simply didn't present its residents with the right stuff.  Too bad since it's quite close to my home.

Class 3 humbling

I went to a beautiful Class 3 stream on Saturday to enjoy the warm weather and hopefully catch of few wild trout.  Unfortunately, I was put in my place by its residents.  I had one strike early in the trip and then nothing for quite a while.  I finally had a strike on a picket pin in a beautiful pool (last photo) and after a couple more casts a hook-up.  It was a small fish, but at least something to play.  Once again when I sat down to get my camera out I allowed the fish to slip away.  While I have no pictures of fish, I thought that the stream was worth showing.  I subsequently found out that there are some very impressive brookies and browns in this stream (only adding to my disappointment!).  I'll just have to improve my fishing skills to bring one to hand.

Nice start to 2012

I was invited to join BRK TRT and his friends for their annual first day of the year fishing trip to a class 1 trout stream.  Being somewhat monomaniacal (completely, according to my family), I jumped at the chance to go fishing once again.  Adding to my generally fishing excitement was the fact that it was my first trip to this stream, one that was on my list to visit.  I got there early and was amazed to find the stream flowing right past houses, just a short drive off the highway.  Looking south I could see traces of fog hanging over the stream, while northward it was bright and clear.

BRK and his friends, TROUT1 and Apache Trout, arrived shortly and after a nice warm cup of coffee and a donut we hit the stream.  Quite often I find that my first time on any given stream is not very successful, and today was no exception.  The flies that have proven to be very successful on other streams (like the Gartside sparrow  and birds nest nymphs), were not generating any excitement in this stream's wild residents.  However, with the sage advice of TROUT1 (along with one of his special flies), I was finally able to get on the board catching a beautiful brookie.

We fished for quite a while and decided it was time for a break.  After a delicious lunch of sausage and peppers, we returned to the stream for another round.  Try as I might, I was unable to catch another fish in this stretch of the stream.   I headed back to where we had parked with the intention of going home, but decided to head downstream to talk to BRK TRT before leaving.  Seeing more nice water to fish I couldn't resist the temptation to take a few more casts, but once again to no avail.   On the walk back upstream with BRK TRT he stopped at a run that he had been fishing and suggested I give it a try.  After a few casts and slow retrieves of the sparrow nymph a fish struck and a brief battle ensued.  In that relatively short stretch of stream I hooked and lost two fish and had another overt strike all with the sparrow.  My comfort fly did in fact work on this stream, with the excellent advice of BRK TRT on where to fish it.

In the future when I return to this beautiful place I know that my ability to catch some of it's wild residents will be greatly enhanced due to willingness of BRK TRT, TROUT1 and Apache Trout to share with me their knowledge of the stream.  I also really appreciate their sharing the first day of the year fishing trip with me.  Thank you very much guys.  Happy New Year.