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.

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. 

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.

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.