Largemouth Bass Lineup

Largemouth Bass Lineup

Monday, November 29, 2010

Brookie Fishing this past Monday

Big hole where the big guy lives.  Next year dude!




I got so wrapped up with being off for a week from work and the holiday that I forgot to post about my fishing trip this past Monday.  I decided to hit the brookie stream again.  I figured why not right?  I was hoping to find my groove and get back those skills I lost years ago when I stopped fishing this stream.  My first outing was horrible and only two brookies were landed.  The second time out, the very next day after the first one, was better.  I managed to land six brookies.  Monday I did even better.  I landed 8 and lost just as many.  I had a great time though.  I did manage to hook a huge brookie.  This was the guy I lost on Saturday after hooking him twice then.  Knowing where he would be, I went there first.  On my third cast, he nailed it and the fight was on.  I was so excited as I fought him because this was certainly going to be the biggest brookie I had ever landed.  It had to have been at least 10 1/2-11 inches.  Now gentle reader you will notice that I am using the past tense when I describe this fish and the fight he put up.  After about twenty or so seconds, he went down under a rock and I lost him.  The good thing is that I know now where he is and I will be back for him again at some point down the road.  It was a great day overall and I am looking forward to another brookie outing.  BTW I have more photos but for some reason the blog will not let me upload them the way they are supposed to be.  The blog keeps changing the photos and I cant seem to get them to change back.  Oh well.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Brookie fishing again

This is a part of the stream I fished yesterday.  I hiked up this hill trying every single hole and small run.
 This would be considered a deep pool.



I decided to hit the brookie stream again yesterday.  I managed to do a little better.  I fishing a part of the stream I havent fished in say 13 or so years.  I only managed to land one and lose three.  I went back to the section of the stream I like and worked that area for a while.  I landed five more brookies and lost only three.  In the end I fished with six landed and six fought and lost.  Not bad given my decline in small stream skills.  I did manage to hook a lunker not once but twice.  After that he refused to bite anymore.  My bad that I missed him but I know where he is and I will be going back to check it and him out soon. 

Saturday, November 20, 2010

BROOKIES!




When I first started fly fishing, I discovered a small native brookie stream about 35-40 minutes from my house.  I heard about this stream from the local fly shop owner.  He shared his knowledge with me and explained to me actually where to go.  I was so happy and surprised that he would have done that.  I was always taught to keep those "secret" fishing spots all to yourself and to never ever share least of all with another fisherman.

Anyways, I started going to this stream.  At first I didn't catch many fish.  The stream is very small, maybe eight feet across at its widest point, and very shallow with a "deep" hole being one of say 1-2 feet deep.  What this stream does have though is a naturally reproducing brookie population.  Most fish are between say 5 and 7 inches with a "lunker" being 9-10 inches.   I started fishing with Humpies and Wulffs of all shapes and sizes.  I quickly learned a few things about the stream.  First, trees and ground cover can be murder on flies.  I have no idea just how many flies I lost those first 2 or 3 dozen outings.  This type of fly fishing required pin point fly presentation with a keen eye kept on one's surroundings and back cast.  Second, the brookies are incredibly skittish fish.  A mere cough, sigh or break of a tree branch and they were gone from the pool.  Lord help you if you slipped on a rock and splashed some water round.  Third, when caught the brookies put up a good fight and are one hell of a beautiful fish.

I was soon hooked on brookie fishing and spent most of my fly fishing time pursuing them.  I got pretty good at catching them.  Looking at my fly fishing log I went from catching 3 or 4 of them to catching 17-20 pf them.  Those were good times.  That was 15 years ago.  Fast forward to the present.  Yesterday a friend of mine and I hit the brookie stream.  This was the first time I have been there this year.  The temps around here were mid 50's yesterday but all week they were in the mid 60's.  I violated the whole "secret" fishing spot thing and took a friend of mine with me.  He is the one I have been helping to learn how to fly fish and tie this past year. 

We spent about 2 hours trying to catch the brookies.  I managed to land two and I lost 5 or so.  My friend wasn't so lucky.  He hooked one fish twice and lost it both times and hooked another fish four times and lost it each time.  In the end, I hope he had a good time.  There is something special about this stream.  Over time and as his skills improve, I hope he comes to love it as I do.  I will say though that watching him reminded me a lot of me when I first started.

 I also noticed that my skills in this type of fly fishing have deteriorated over time.  I had some trouble casting and hooked a few trees myself.  I also managed to spook quite a few fish before I even got near them.  The last five or so years I have fished for smallies and panfish almost exclusively.  Occasionally I would hit a trout stream for something different.  Catching those brookies stirred something in me and I can't wait to go again.  As always, it's not about how many fish we catch but more about the journey both getting there and during the trip.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Buggers

I have been tying up some more buggers lately.  I am sticking with the orange and brown one for a fly swap I am in.  I did tie up some purple buggers.  Here is one of them.  I want to get crackin' on some poppers here soon.