Disclaimer - This thread might come off as the ramblings of an idiot, but....
On Thursday, I went to my favorite trout stream. I found sulfurs hatching, and the trout were willing to rise to dry flies. That was the good. The bad is this - I have never before seen the stream so low and clear for this time of year, and I also noticed that a good portion of the stream that is among my favorite little stretches is beginning to be blighted by the woolly adelgid. This area of the stream has a steep bank on the right with huge towering hemlocks that add a stately and awe-inspiring beauty to the creek. The trees are now dying. Soon, the stream will lose the shade that this provides, and it will also lead to lots of large, woody debris in the stream.
On Friday and Saturday, I poked around some stocked streams that also have modest wild trout populations. These are small streams. I hate the stocked trout experience on small forested freestoners. I was fishing these streams to see what kind of wild trout I could turn up. I didn't catch a single one. I fished through beautful habitat and pools and couldn't turn up a wild trout. I used to find more in these streams. What happened to them? Was I just not catching them on these days? Also, there is lots of large, woody debris in these streams, and it is getting worse all the time. I hate large woody debris.
I then went to a stream I know very well and fish often. I got some eats by trout, but couldn't land one. The bite was very finicky, and the trout spit my dry flies or my nymphs almost immediately. I fished a soft plastic tube/worm on a jighead out of a tree on this stream. I also saw what looked like a trout spook off the bank (it startled me. I didn't know it was there until it swam off), and it looked like the fish had a similar lure hanging from its mouth. I have never seen anyone else fishing this stream, but obviously someone else is fishing it these days, and they're bombing soft plastics in there.
Everywhere I go, I seem to find and clean up litter, discarded fishing line, and people's other crap. I have been striking out on certain streams, and so far this year the small stream wild trout fishing has been lackluster for me. The two streams I fished Saturday and Sunday have some wild fish, but I always wonder why there aren't more? Is it solely because they are both heavily stocked, or is there something else going on with these streams?
I love to explore and poke around, and I've discovered some tremendous streams doing so, but other times exploring and poking around small streams is some of the most frustrating and miserable experiences angling has to offer.
I know people say large, woody debris is good for fish, but as a fisherman, I absolutely hate it. It pretty much ruins small stream experiences for me, and the amount of large, woody debris seems to be ever-increasing thanks to our diseased and blighted forests. Okay, I'm done rambling. I'll post some pics from my phone then, but I just need to go fishing on a big stream or river and catch some dang fish.
On Thursday, I went to my favorite trout stream. I found sulfurs hatching, and the trout were willing to rise to dry flies. That was the good. The bad is this - I have never before seen the stream so low and clear for this time of year, and I also noticed that a good portion of the stream that is among my favorite little stretches is beginning to be blighted by the woolly adelgid. This area of the stream has a steep bank on the right with huge towering hemlocks that add a stately and awe-inspiring beauty to the creek. The trees are now dying. Soon, the stream will lose the shade that this provides, and it will also lead to lots of large, woody debris in the stream.
On Friday and Saturday, I poked around some stocked streams that also have modest wild trout populations. These are small streams. I hate the stocked trout experience on small forested freestoners. I was fishing these streams to see what kind of wild trout I could turn up. I didn't catch a single one. I fished through beautful habitat and pools and couldn't turn up a wild trout. I used to find more in these streams. What happened to them? Was I just not catching them on these days? Also, there is lots of large, woody debris in these streams, and it is getting worse all the time. I hate large woody debris.
I then went to a stream I know very well and fish often. I got some eats by trout, but couldn't land one. The bite was very finicky, and the trout spit my dry flies or my nymphs almost immediately. I fished a soft plastic tube/worm on a jighead out of a tree on this stream. I also saw what looked like a trout spook off the bank (it startled me. I didn't know it was there until it swam off), and it looked like the fish had a similar lure hanging from its mouth. I have never seen anyone else fishing this stream, but obviously someone else is fishing it these days, and they're bombing soft plastics in there.
Everywhere I go, I seem to find and clean up litter, discarded fishing line, and people's other crap. I have been striking out on certain streams, and so far this year the small stream wild trout fishing has been lackluster for me. The two streams I fished Saturday and Sunday have some wild fish, but I always wonder why there aren't more? Is it solely because they are both heavily stocked, or is there something else going on with these streams?
I love to explore and poke around, and I've discovered some tremendous streams doing so, but other times exploring and poking around small streams is some of the most frustrating and miserable experiences angling has to offer.
I know people say large, woody debris is good for fish, but as a fisherman, I absolutely hate it. It pretty much ruins small stream experiences for me, and the amount of large, woody debris seems to be ever-increasing thanks to our diseased and blighted forests. Okay, I'm done rambling. I'll post some pics from my phone then, but I just need to go fishing on a big stream or river and catch some dang fish.
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