Saturday, December 10, 2016

That Tough Time of Year

The transition between winter and fall, even though it usually lasts only a couple weeks, is what I call the tough time of year from brookie fishing. It is easier to find them and get them to eat flies on a cold day in January than it is during this transitional time. That is due in big part to the changing water temperatures and the slowing metabolism of the fish, as well as the fact that the fish have just finished spawning. It can be hard to find where in the stream the larger brook trout will be, and it is rarely where you think they should be. Hell, this time of year I've found them sitting in stagnant water on the edges of the stream where redfin pickerel usually live. That being said, because this snow and ice could make the act of fishing more frustrating within the next two months, I take every opportunity to get out on the water.



The other day I fished one of my local wild trout streams, one of those that harbors both browns and brookies, as well as tigers, though they are as rare as 12 inch browns are in this system (There might be only one or two of each). I caught three smaller brookies, two on the ausable ugly and one on a Kebari style fly.




6 comments:

  1. Rowan you hit the nail straight on.
    I fished a stream that should be on fire but the trout were not to be found. A couple of weeks ago they were all over. Transition indeed. We have the cold shock about to hit.

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    1. Batten down the hatches, trout, it's gonna be a deep freeze!

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  2. It is good to see someone is getting out there !! Enjoy before the deep freeze comes later in the week!

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    1. Thanks Pete,
      Fortunately it doesn't look like its going to last very long.

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  3. I decided to take the weekend off for that reason and deal with the weather transition by eating and drinking in the city instead... glad you got out, nice photos.

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