Still a winter neophyte

I admit to having very little experience catching trout in the winter, particularly when it's cold and snowy.  Quite often I am humbled by the stream's residents, unable to entice any response to my offerings.  In general that was the experience today.  Try as I might, my selection of fly was invariably unable to draw a response.  The Picket Pin, Sparrow, Frenchie and EC all failed to connect.  When BRK TRT finally caught a couple of brookies on the surface using a small dry fly, I switched to a size 16 Hemingway caddis and after a while caught the one small brookie pictured below.  In spite of the lack of success, it was a beautiful day in the woods and I'd gladly do it again.

On occasion you run into some interesting stuff in the woods.  Hopefully this home-made cross isn't the burial site of one of this stream's beautiful wild brook trout.

Brookies in the snow

We weren't going to let a little snow deter us, so off we went to the woods to see if we could stir up a few wild brookies.  Although the fish were not very active, a few hit the fly we offered, including the Hemingway caddis dry fly.

December 23rd in CT

Being unable to resist going fishing (when given the chance), I returned to my favorite stream to see what effect the recent rain had on the stream and its residents.  With more water flowing it seemed that some of the larger brookies were willing to make an appearance.  While a few times fish struck at a caddis dry fly, it was the Picket Pin fished slowly upstream that proved to be the most effective on this day.  Happy Holidays to all the beautiful brookies (and browns) that inhabit this remarkable little stream.

Last trip before Christmas

Alan, Mark and I returned to the woods for another shot at catching some wild brookies before the weather change and Christmas.  With the water temperature up by 3-4 degrees, compared to our last visit, the fish seemed to be somewhat more cooperative during their midday burst of activity.  All of us caught, landed and photographed a number of beautiful little brookies during their lunch period.  Caddis patterns (EC caddis and Henryville Special) proved to be quite effective, particularly for many of the stream's small residents.

Happy Holidays everyone.

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.