swamp brookies

[k-bob]

I usually think of brookies as "mountain stream" fish, but I have had good brookie fishing in poconos swamp channels. Some of these swamp channels are cold enough for brookies, and they are probably too tannic for browns. They might look like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22661054@N00/6123623159/sizes/l/in/photostream/

(hope the image doesn't give the location away ) Because the reeds and weeds make walking out of the channel a pain, I like to find "swamp brookie" channels that are shallow enough that I can just wade. Sometimes they have minipools just full of brookies that will bash dry flies even in bright sunlight ... had that experience recently.

Anyone have ideas on how to fly fish for swamp brookies? I think these places fish well in high water, such as now ...

 

[k-bob]

birds eye view of swamp channel with brookies:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22661054@N00/6124905084/sizes/l/in/photostream/

 

[wildtrout2]

I have dabbled in this kind of trout fishing. One of these days I'm going to try that one I mentioned in Pike county. One day. lol

 

[k-bob]

nice fish .... these places are supposed to fish well in high water so they may be getting pretty good right about now

 

[pcray1231]

I can't speak for the pocono streams. There are a few streams like this in a small driftless region in SW Warren County that I've tried. They have very high alkalinities, like limestone levels, but the mechanism is different. Some have good wild trout pops, some with brookies and some browns, a few are class A I believe.

I didn't try them very long for fearing for my life. You gotta wade swampy areas to get to the channel, and you sink right in that soft sediment. Just wasn't worth it. I can say that snowshoes crossed my mind, though....

 

[pete41]

If you ever make it to the west you will find brookie streams in all kinds of fun places~barnyards,irrigating ditches,barrow pits.

 

[k-bob]

pat my favorite brookie swamp channel has a sandy-rocky bottom and I don't push it depthwise in tannic water, too hard to see. the best fishing may be in shallow water anyhow say 2 ft or so of moving water in a channel. not as warm as you might guess. bout 62 in one last week.

but since they are brookies you can fish right in the sunlight which helps you see the stream bottom.

I always carry a trekking pole and can probe the bottom as I go in any depth of water.

a pool that's 2 ft deep, 10 ft wide, and 20 ft long can be full of brookies in places like that.

some of these meadow channels are basically just small flat streams with runs and pools surrounded by reeds. the brookies are crazy, sometimes two of them clear the water chasing a dry fly.

 

[mcneishm]

Some of the best brook trout fishing I've ever had was in the Smays Run swamp above Black Moshannon Dam in Center County. Years ago, probably in the early 80s, my dad started to fish there from a canoe, the only way to safely get into it. There were numerous beaver dams and a fairly deep channel that ran maybe a half mile above where the stream crossed the Julianne Pike and dumped into the dam. When we first started going there, the brookies were numerous, willing, and good sized. It was not uncommon to catch them in the 14-15 inch range. We had it to ourselves for a couple of years but access was along a road that ran thru the state park so folks saw us go in or come out and eventually made the connection. Bait and spinner folks did a number on the trout so both the quantity and quality of the fish declined. I have not been back there for probably 15-20 years so I have no idea what it's like now.

 

[Stone_Fly]

I try to fish secret places during the week, that way fewer people are likely to be around to see me walk in. I also don't fish places like this more than once a year and often only once ever.
Of course if people see you go into a secret place you can always find a way in that is less obvious.
As for acidic tannin laden streams there's one in the Poconos that is red, and when I say red, it's like china red, it's loaded with brookies and mosquitos, so it's best to go in the cooler months.
Many of the Pocono streams start in swamps and are too acidic for browns, it's only after they drop off the Allegheny Plateau that they become fertile enough for browns to survive, many never become fertile enough to have browns survive, thankfully.

 

[Hookerman]

There’s a section of one of these type streams I’ve been dyin’ to fish that looks to have several deep pools where large brookies might be but because of too many obstacles access via a watercraft is impossible. Wading up to them might be possible however, I find it unnerving to go where I can’t see bottom and the water's cold and near chest deep. Did get in below the place and caught a few, though (a pic. of one and the stream are attached below). Waiting for a really dry summer to try again.

As far as how to fish them... weighted streamers, if you you want to catch the bigger fish and numbers don't matter. Pickups off the bottom seem to produce the most strikes by the largest specimens.

 

[wildtrout2]

Hooker, that's a really nice brookie!

 

[Hookerman]

I'm betting there are bigger, there. While higher and/or greater flows seem to make the fish more active as I and others here have stated it can make wading (often the only way to fish most of these streams) difficult, dangerous or, at the least, intimidating.

The most appealing thing about these streams (to me) besides the potential of a large brookie is few bother fishing or, even talking about them (and I don't expect these posts to change that).

If it's only big fish you're after the key is getting the fly on the bottom and letting it sit here for a while (without getting snagged) then, pulling it up off the bottom quickly (but not all the way) before letting it sink (if you don't get a strike) just a quick (WEIGHT does that) and repeating the process.

Roll casts (no need to worry about small surface disturbances) and heavy medium length leaders are best for casting and a long handled net for retreiving fish from the weeds and/or brush. All in all it's very similar to fishing small beaver ponds.

To get an idea of the main channel layout and a glimpse of what kind of fish (size and numbers) some recon. during a bright day during a hot, dry summer is a good idea. Of course while doing that you can also fish dries or terrestrials (I prefer the latter, then).

These type of streams are most numerous in/on the Pocono Plateau but exist in other parts of PA as well NY and NJ. While the low PH tends to keep other fish besides brookies out the ubiquitous chain pickerel is often present in varying numbers, too. Some say the Esox make the fishing better (for big trout) because of their predation on young brookies. While this may be true in the Canadian wilderness, I don’t know/can't say about here.

 

[Chaz]

IT's predation of big brookies on their young that allows the brookies to grow, but pickeral probably help too.

 

[k-bob]

Thanks hooker nice pics... That looks like a bigger swamp channel than the ones I usually fish... If they are cold, moving, and tannic these places can have a lot of fish. I am not reaaly looking for bigger brookies so I usually fish adams flies in smaller brookie swamp channels... But I can imagine how bigger brookies would live in these places and dries would not be the best for the bigger fish.

I first fished a brookie swamp channel when i had been told about brookies in a stream and as I moved up it opened up into a swamp channel.... I was surprised at all thebrookies in it.

I take the wading very easily in these places... Cant see through tannic water so i wont go above my waist and constantly probe the bottom with a trekking pole.

 

[Hookerman]

"IT's predation of big brookies on their young that allows the brookies to grow, but pickeral probably help too."

In some isolated/fragmented freestone streams where brookies are sole apex predator, yes. In large Canadian rivers Pike and Muskie (other Esox and cousins of the Pickerel) 'thin out' brookie populations making for less but larger Salvelinus.

Back in Feb. I was fishing a such a freestoner (brookie as sole apex predator) using an 'emerging brookie YOY' imitation fly. It was almost boring (catching so many with so little effort) until the guy in the pic. below bit. So, you're right, when it comes to one scenario.

 

[k-bob]

That looks like a brookie/shark!

 

[k-bob]

Hooker interesting that you mention pike... I have only caught them in one swamp brookie place, and it was a bigger channel than the 8-12 ft wide ones that I usually fish. I do remember that place had highly tannic water and I caught fewer brookies but bigger ones .... Thanks

 

[k-bob]

swamp brookie fishing is messy, I may have to start shopping at the bear grylls store

http://www.us.beargryllsstore.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Info_14551_bear+in+action_-1_13055

I think you guys are right, particularly if you are looking for bigger brookies... they'd like streamers or other big deep-fished flies, and they'd be in bigger swamp channels, so wading in that cold tannic water could be edgy.

in the poconos, there are so many rocks everywhere that some brookie channels have rocky bottoms. but trekking poles or not, I don't mess with too much water, current, or muck in places like this.

 

[k-bob]

the ruler on google earth shows the scale of a brookie swamp channel before you hike in... this one is about 15 ft wide, good for me. the channel/stream also changes from open swamp to forested sections, so maybe the bottom is not just muck:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22661054@N00/6130180376/sizes/l/in/photostream/

I like these maps, but a nonfishing friend told my wife that it looks like I am planning "bombing missions" on the internet

 

[Hookerman]

" ...don't mess with too much water, current, or muck in places like this."

Especially COLD water. Even during a 100 degree day 62F water saps your strength quicker than you think it would. One dunk and then getting stuck in some muck while trying to get out and you could be crayfish food. However, IF you CAN get out hypothermia is usually not an issue in hot weather though once during a heat wave in august I drive home shivering with some teeth chatter until taking a long hot shower. My wife happened to stop by the house while I was sitting in a steam filled bathroom sippin' some whisky and thought I was nuts as the temp. was over 95F and we had no air conditioning. Not 25 anymore (and haven't been for a few decades) so, caution is the keyword for me these days.

Still, I think about the pools I CAN'T get too! .

*Note - What noone has mentioned so far are the mosquitoes! in a word 'bad'.