Redfin

I did some brown lining today, a stream transitioning from the forest into a meadow. I started out catching fall fish on dry flies. They are pretty fish, and for there size hard fighters. Definitely fun to catch, but I was looking for variety...

...And in my hunt I stumbled upon a remarkable little fish. I was just dead drifting flies for a while, getting more of the little silver fellows.  Then I made a bad cast. I skated the line and fly back and was surprised to see a little missile fly out of the water and nail the bomber! I struck and missed. But I now had a new method to use, and the next cast had a repeat attack. This time it felt a bit bigger, and I was almost startled a moment later when I examined the gnarled end of my tippet. This was something with teeth! A few casts later I got my answer: I held in my hand my first redfin pickerel on the fly. For those who are not familiar, redfin are the smaller of pickerel found in Connecticut. There colors often remind me of a heavily barred muskellunge. I had only ever caught two before this day, and both were on spinning gear. Today I caught five. They were not big fish, but very beautiful, incredible fighters, and voracious in feeding style. It was just like top water fishing for their bigger cousins. I am so glad I decided to wade down to that new stretch of river, I am glad to have discovered a new fishery (to me) so close to home.