Falling Springs Br., Franklin County, 06/27/2009

[3wt7X]

I had to pay a cell phone bill up in Chambersburg today, so I used it as an excuse to fish Falling Springs for a couple of hours. I arrived at about 10:30 am and I was greated with breezy 80 degree weather and gin clear water as always. I did not notice much insect activity, but I did see a single small size 18 sulpher come off.

Due to the breezy conditions, I figured that a terrestrial pattern would work, so I tied on a size 20 parachute ant to 6X tippet. I did all my fishing in the C&R section and I caught a small brown within moments of being there. I tried to keep my casts very short along the weedlines and limit any fly line touching the water. I noticed a nice undercut while working upstream in an unnamed section and I dapped the fly down. A beautiful 20 inch wild brown slid out from under the bank and slowly rose up and slurped my fly about four feet in front of me. It did not fight very hard, rather it just acted irritated and shook it's head. It did not have much room to run in the small section that I was fishing. It came net fairly quickly and I snapped a couple of pictures and released him a little smarter.

Looking at that fish, it amazed me that a fish of that size with those teeth would still eat a size 20 ant. It could have easily consumed a mouse, snake, or baby duck and I am sure that it has. I left the stream at 12:45 a very happy fisherman.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

beautiful fish!

 

[nativebrownie]

Very, very nice. The beauty of that brown says much about Falling Springs. Your're right... at that size one would think that larger fare would be in order - intereresting on a #20 ant...
Musta been a wide smile.... in a very nice place - that stream is a testament to a lt of local work...

 

[Fishidiot]

Awesome - just a beautiful fish. Most of the trout up in the FFO section of Falling Springs are rainbows but most of the bigger fish are browns. I usually get 'em on big stuff but they love a small scud too. Note the bright red individual spots on the adipose fin. Neat.

 

[albud1962]

Nice looking fish

 

[vcregular]

Absolute beauty!!!

 

[Squaretail]

Well I'll be. Its a bit late now, but I'll post a picture tomorrow. I met him last year, and he was truly beautiful.
Good to see hes still donig well and he was going to be my "Most memorable fish" post on that thread.

 

[Squaretail]

On a day I gashed my leg pretty good, found out the previous day that I had a warrant, and my vehicles clutch gave out over an hour away from home, I caught this trout while waiting for the tow truck. It was the only fish caught that day and gave me one bright spot. It was 19 1/4" last year in august.
He took a hopper which is very good on Falling as long as you arent following someone on the stream.

 

[Fishidiot]

Squaretail,
Very cool. As you know, catching the same fish on Falling Springs is not unusual. I've seen this happen quite a few times. I caught the rainbow below in 2005 when he was 18" in the FFO section. The following year, I caught him again (Benny caught him :-D ) and he'd grown to 20" in the ensuing year or so. He'd migrated downstream about 100 yards during that time. I saw this fish again a few more times that year but couldn't catch him again. There was also a big tiger trout in the FFO section that was in the same pool for several years. You might remember him. He was about 22" when I caught him in 2003. When I hooked him again in early '07 he was much bigger, maybe 27" but I didn't land him the second time. He's since disappeared - probably died of old age. It seems like some of these fish you get to know like old friends.

 

[3wt7X]

Squaretail,
That is a good story. It is funny how things tend to play out like that sometimes. You'll be happy to know that he has grown about a full inch since you caught him. I am glad that you got a close-up of that tail. I was in a rush to snap a picture and return him and I neglected to get a shot like that. I loved how some of the spots on the tail were completely red, but they were similar in size and shape as the black ones. I, personally, have not caught many browns with that trait.

 

[JackM]

I think this is the very first time that we have evidence so positively identifying the same fish caught twice by different anglers. Hopefully, you guys can exchange PMs about the location to see how far, if at all, he has moved between seasons. No need to reveal the whereabouts, but if you sort that out, let us know how far apart in the stream he was between the catches. Totally cool!

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

That is very cool u2!

I agree with Jack, if you guys can work out the distance the fish moved let us know. Im curious.

Beautiful fish!

 

[Squaretail]

The same hole, only he caught it at the top, and I caught it and the end.
And I remember 4 Tiger trout FishId.
I have no doubts the one just might have hit 27"es as you say, and at first I thought it was a championship brookie. Those Tigers were georgeous down there. Lots of reddish-purple!
Havent seen one in about a year.

 

[greenghost]

Beautiful fish. Made even more so under the circumstances... Gotta love catch and release.

 

[Acristickid]

Nice fish.