Low Water, Small Streamer, Ugly Brooky!

I wanted to get back on the trout scene, so I headed to a small stream hoping that this mornings rain brought up the flow. It didn't, but I was rewarded with the first cast of the bead eyed stonefly nymph. A nice clean Brook trout fought well before coming to hand. Given his condition in comparison to most stockers, I would say that he is likely a holdover, most wild Brookies in this stream do not exceed 8 inches.

The colors are still pretty, maybe he will go on to make little wild char.

After releasing that beauty, I headed upstream in hopes of more natural trout. I was mostly unsuccessful, but one nice little Brownie was fooled by a nymph.

I went back down stream to sight fish for stocked trout with a streamer. The pattern was a yellow marabou streamer. The first fish I sought out was a toad of a brooky, clearly a broodstock. What is the chance that he would want to eat? I dumped the fly on his nose and eat it he did. After a while I was able to tail and land the pig. We was every bit as long as my forearm. I wish I could say my PB Brooky was a native, but this ugly beast kicked the previous record out of the way. Looks like its time to plan a trip to Maine!