Big, dark, mysterious holes

[BrookTroutLover]

We’ve all wondered. You’re working your way up through a tumbling stream deep in a valley gorge. Boulders the size of RVs. Absolutely gorgeous. And you come up on a deep deep deep hole. Waterfall at the top. No bottom in sight. Tails out 40 yards below. Could be 10 feet deep.

Are there big *** trout down there, or is it really the shallow tail out where the fish live and eat? I’ve read Tom Rosenbauer somewhere saying that most trout are happiest in 2 to 4 feet of water

I’m always tempted to lug the 6wt with a sinking line and put one of those foot-long streamers to the test.

Before I do, who has a story about what lies beneath?

 

[wildtrout2]

I've encountered numerous deep pools below falls over the years, but never caught that lunker that must live in their depths.

 

[tjsingle]

A couple years ago, my dad and I were fishing for brook trout. We were starting to head back to the truck at that point, and decided to fish a off-shoot of the creek we skipped over on the way upstream. We came across a pool that had to have been 6-ft deep. You could not see the bottom at all. One of those pools thats deeper than it is wide. We joked that the biggest fish was probably in there, and on the last cast before we headed out, sure enough a big old brookie swiped at my dad's streamer right at the surface and returned to the depths.

That fish was easily 14-in+, which as we all know in PA is a trophy.

In Maine, 2 years ago, I was fishing a river with big dry flies. It was June, peak bug season up there. I had gotten a few nice landlocked salmon at the head of a pool, but as we worked down I fished a tailout quickly. The biggest brook trout I've ever seen comes up from the depths and eats the stimulator and breaks me off, mind you I am using 4X tippet. That fish was huge, and still haunts me. No active rises before hand, just a random hit from a big brook trout acting no different than the blue line brookies we have here in PA.

Generally, when I fish deep pools I am inclined to use a streamer before I move on. There's been too many times where I have encountered and sometimes caught a nice one from the depths.

 

[tomgamber]

Put on a big beadhead bugger and start counting down. I've always got stuff that'll sink in my box. They also make leadheads that loop between your leader and fly line to make a sinking head.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

I always have a jig streamer with a 5mm bead ready in my working box....

 

[jifigz]

There is no need to lug a 6 weight with a sinking line - that would be ridiculous on a stream such as that. Put on a heavy fly, at split shot, etc, and get streamer or nymph down deep. Whether a "lunker" lives there or not totally depends on the type of stream. In a stream lacking in fertility, that lunker might be a 10" brookie. In a stream that is more fertile with mixed browns and brooks, it could be a 15" brown or so.

Yes, I've caught nice trout out of deep plunge pools below waterfalls; I've also caught nothing from them - it just depends on the day and trip. Generally,a a bugger is a good enough fly for me to probe those waters with.

 

[TheDuke44]

If I ever stop believing that there's a monstrous fish living in the depths, then I think a big piece of the joy I find in fishing may have left.

That being said, I have had some great luck swinging a weighted bugger through the big, dark, mysterious holes. Still waiting for that true river monster though...

I'm sure it will be in the next one.

 

[TerrellBFly]

Sounds like a perfect spot for an Egan's Poacher.

"Dark waters hold treasures."

 

[Bamboozle]

Slate Run among others has some deep holes and I usually can dredge up something bigger than average, but I have found on many of these "big, dark, mysterious holes" it pays to make more than a few casts before claiming success or failure.

As far as "lugging the 6wt with a sinking line," my usual MO is to not change a thing and just knot on a weighted fly I think will catch fish. I can't tell you how many times this means I'm fishing some streamer or beadhead on a dry fly suited rod with a dry fly leader and a dry fly tippet.

It isn't usually fun or pretty but it saves time. IF I catch a fish on the first or second cast and I believe there are more, I may consider switching to using a more appropriate leader & tippet but I would never bother carrying a 2nd outfit just in case.

 

[SBecker]

This is how babies are born.