Nice December day

Alan and I met at a favorite brook on Tuesday and took advantage of some nice early winter weather.  Lately the fish have seemed to exhibit a burst of activity from late morning to early afternoon, undoubtedly a result of a slight increase in water temperature around midday.  Since that is when we were on the water we were fortunate to catch a fair number of fish, using both wet flies (e.g. Picket Pin and orange heads) and dry flies (e.g. EC caddis and woodchuck caddis).  As you'll see at Alan's blog (Small Stream Reflections), if there is a low abundance resident he'll usually find and catch it.  On this day I was the one to catch that critter, a rainbow that was in a nice pool at a 90 degree bend in the brook just downstream from where he caught his rainbow when he last visited the stream.  As is always the case, the resident brookies appeared healthy and beautiful, although maybe a little lean.

Beautiful fall days

For a while the fish in one of my favorite brooks have been less than enthusiastic about taking aritficial flies drifted into their line of sight.  Although the very little residents have nibbled, the brook's larger denizens (in relative terms) have remained all but invisible.  With the improvement in the weather over the last few days some of the bigger brookies have begun to emerge.  Pictured below are a couple of the larger brookies that I've tricked, as well as one of the smallest.  The beautiful fish pictured second fell for a pink midge dropped straight down into the small pool below the tree trunk.  I watched two fish moving around this well-protected but limited area and was able to fool one.

Hanging in the current (dead center in the picture below) are two brookies that I watched spawning closer to the head of the pool.  It was the first time that I have witnessed these remarkable fish in reproductive mode.

Fall brookies

I went to the same nearby stream that I often post pictures of and while it was not an overly successful trip at least I caught a couple of beauties.  This stream is very odd in that each visit results in fish being caught in a limited number of pools and runs, but seemingly alternating which ones reveal their inhabitants each time I go there.  None of its larger brookies came to hand this time, but the ones that I did see were beautiful none the less.

On Friday Alan and I met at stream that I stumbled upon many months ago, one that was home to numerous small to middling wild brookies.  By the time that I showed him this stream its residents were not as active as when I first fished it.  My hope was that some day he would experience what I had previously.  During the summer the stream flow dropped to some very low percentage of what I had originally seen.  We've both been very patiently awaiting a return to this stream, hoping that the water level would be back to "normal".  When we arrived on Friday the level was better, but not up to where it had been in the past.  We worked our way upstream, fishing many of the pools and riffles that had previously held many of the stream's beautiful brookies.  While we did get a few strikes by very small fish, I think that only one came to hand (in the run just downstream of the large tree in the first picture below).  I seriously hope that the hot and dry summer has not permanently damaged the wild brookie population in this small gem of brook.

Beautiful fall day

Not a lot of fish, but some nice colors and great fall air.

Testing a new fly pattern

I was searching the web many months ago and found a video on YouTube showing how to tie Eric Leiser's Woodchuck Caddis.  Since I like to test out new patterns I thought that I would give this one a try.  I used the same dubbing that is used in the Ausable Bomber and as a result the fly really resembles a caddis version of this remarkable pattern.  On the water the fly has proven to be very effective, having drawn numerous strikes on the streams that I have recently used it on.

Autumn colors

There is nothing like the fall in New England, particularly when it's sunny with seasonable temperatures.  The color of  the leaves and the fish can be visually remarkable, while the smell of clean fresh air is invigorating.

Making up for discouraging salt water fishing

One of my favorite fish to catch and observe is the little tunny.  When they arrive in our inshore waters in late summer my mania to pursue these beautiful fish comes on strong.  The problem is that they can be very frustrating, due to their behavior and ability to be everywhere but where you are.  Adding to the challenge of pursuing these fish was the fact that my boat was out of commission for many weeks, right during the time that these creatures invaded our waters in significant numbers.  While I have finally been in the right place at the right time a couple of times (landing 6 on the fly rod and 4 on the spinning rod), my time on the water friday was almost unbearably frustrating.   Hence, I decided that a trip to the nearest wild trout stream was in order on Saturday.  The beautiful brookies that I caught there made me forget (temporarily) about my generally bad luck pursuing the other fish that I am enamored with.