Brownie101
Member
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2012
- Messages
- 308
I've been on a brookie kick lately. Not really by choice, but if I had a choice I'm sure I would still go for brookies. It's pretty surprising that considering the county I live in, brook trout are the closest available wild trout to fish for, a few streams being just a few miles down the road. This will probably be pretty long, so I'll forgive you if you don't read it all.
Monday I found myself at the stream I first started out fishing for native brookies at. It's probably the biggest or second biggest all brookie stream in the county, and she can be tough at times, especially in the summer. This day, however, wasn't one of those days, and I happened to hit it on a very good day.
I arrived at the stream, with a #10 woolly bugger tied to my tippet. Today was a day I would go for a big brookie. The streams in this area seem to have bigger brookies than different areas of the state. While in most of our states brook trout streams a 7-8" fish is considered a very nice fish, that is just around average for these streams. It has huge rock slabs and undercuts, perfect for big fish.
I started upstream, quickly switching to a dry. The water was too low. I would wait until I got to the deep pools to tie on a big WB. I quickly landed a decent sized brookie out of a riffle, on a stimulator. Good start. I continued upstream, missing another dish and catching a 8". I switched to a woolly bugger. I had reached the first rock slab pool of what I call "the big three". I dropped my fly at the head of the pool. Nothing. Three casts later, I set the hook and a nice fish, which appeared to be in the 9-10" range, nailed the fly but the hook didn't stay with him. Move up to the second pool, nothing. Move up to the big plunge pool. I drop it in the middle of the pool, and BAM, rod doubles. The fish was gone. I didn't have a quick enough reaction to hook him, but more on that fish later.
I got to a long, slow pool that used to be covered with trees and brush. First cast, in the trees. A few choice words later and I was stripping my WB in when a nice 9" brookie hit it. Nice fish, but I know there's a bigger one in that pool! I switched between the bugger and stimmy, hooking and rolling a few more. I got all the way upstream, and retied on my WB for the big plunge pool downstream. I headed straight to it from upstream. I dropped my fly right to where I did before. Bump. Bump. I set the hook. Quite some time in I hadn't even seen the fish. Gotta be a huge brookie right? Nope, a 8". Geuss he knew how to fight with that current. This was actually one of the best days I've ever had at this stream. I landed a few, but missed at least 8 fish, some pretty good sized. Looks like this streams in good shape.
I'll be hitting a few more local streams soon. I actually fished one today, but more on that tomorrow.
http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/ryan268/slideshow/UNT
Monday I found myself at the stream I first started out fishing for native brookies at. It's probably the biggest or second biggest all brookie stream in the county, and she can be tough at times, especially in the summer. This day, however, wasn't one of those days, and I happened to hit it on a very good day.
I arrived at the stream, with a #10 woolly bugger tied to my tippet. Today was a day I would go for a big brookie. The streams in this area seem to have bigger brookies than different areas of the state. While in most of our states brook trout streams a 7-8" fish is considered a very nice fish, that is just around average for these streams. It has huge rock slabs and undercuts, perfect for big fish.
I started upstream, quickly switching to a dry. The water was too low. I would wait until I got to the deep pools to tie on a big WB. I quickly landed a decent sized brookie out of a riffle, on a stimulator. Good start. I continued upstream, missing another dish and catching a 8". I switched to a woolly bugger. I had reached the first rock slab pool of what I call "the big three". I dropped my fly at the head of the pool. Nothing. Three casts later, I set the hook and a nice fish, which appeared to be in the 9-10" range, nailed the fly but the hook didn't stay with him. Move up to the second pool, nothing. Move up to the big plunge pool. I drop it in the middle of the pool, and BAM, rod doubles. The fish was gone. I didn't have a quick enough reaction to hook him, but more on that fish later.
I got to a long, slow pool that used to be covered with trees and brush. First cast, in the trees. A few choice words later and I was stripping my WB in when a nice 9" brookie hit it. Nice fish, but I know there's a bigger one in that pool! I switched between the bugger and stimmy, hooking and rolling a few more. I got all the way upstream, and retied on my WB for the big plunge pool downstream. I headed straight to it from upstream. I dropped my fly right to where I did before. Bump. Bump. I set the hook. Quite some time in I hadn't even seen the fish. Gotta be a huge brookie right? Nope, a 8". Geuss he knew how to fight with that current. This was actually one of the best days I've ever had at this stream. I landed a few, but missed at least 8 fish, some pretty good sized. Looks like this streams in good shape.
I'll be hitting a few more local streams soon. I actually fished one today, but more on that tomorrow.
http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/ryan268/slideshow/UNT
