Falling Spring Branch, Franklin Co, 8/29/11

[willscreek]

Wow what a great day it turned out to be. Fished the meadows and caught 5 and missed about 5 under a blue sky. Caught a wee bow on a trico and then the biggest surprise of the year was a very pretty brookie on my caddis pattern. Everything else I caught was on my caddis too including a bow that might go 12 inches if I stretched his tail but it was shaped like a football. This shouldn't be taken as me bragging but there's some days on that stream that I can't believe how well I do. I guess after years of frustration and learning, the ability slowly settles in and good things happen. I am humbled to catch fish on such a damn hard stream.

 

[Fishidiot]

Nice report (I edited the title to include the county).

Did you happen to get a pic of that brookie? How big was he? Wild brook trout are not known to be in FS these days although they were there historically. There used to be quite a few stocked brookies in the fly area. A small, wild brookie from upper FS would be quite a find and good news.

 

[Squaretail]

For some reason I saw more than a few stocked brookies in there this year. Not saying thats what willscreek caught or not.

 

[willscreek]

No sadly the brookie was an escapee from the rod and gun club. I noticed it had a clipped fin. But I can say that it was a really pretty foot long fish. It's my opinion that the water quality does a lot for the look of a trout. Is it a good thing a few more are swimming around in a few holes...I can't say for sure. More fish more competition but on the other hand it's a species that's already there and as long as it's been there, it's not an easy catch. The only difference is that it's a brookie. On another note, I noticed the watercress has died off a little. One spot choked full a few weeks ago is fishable again. Does it do that after is gets so big? Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty coming up out of the water but it's a lot more open on the water.