Puddles Full of Brook Trout

Today I biked the long trail in to some streams I haven't fished in a long time. I was expecting them to be low, but as both are fed mostly by the cold water of springs I wasn't worried about stressing fish.

The first stream is always quite small. It was in much the same condition as the first time I fished it, with the stretches of trickling water then deep pools with one, two, three, maybe even as many as five brook trout in them. The fish were hiding under rocks or branches, and when the PT Parachute hit the surface they came out to inspect it, and usually ended up at hand.

You just know there's a fish in this pool.

By far the prettiest out of this stream today.

On the way back down I took a snake break. I carefully examined an outcropping hoping to spot a sunning timber rattler. They only scaly slitherer I found was a garter snake.

Then I found a tributary and, to my surprise, it was also still holding some fish.

Stream number three, though usually bigger than the first, was now no more than a series of pools. Most of the running water was underneath the rocks. I talked to the land owner before I started fishing and he was adamant that I wouldn't catch anything. Yet it's fish are still hanging on. The pool in the above picture had five in it, none of which I caught.

This man made pond provided some delightful fishing. A skated stimulator brought crazy takes. I let most of the fish throw the hook once I got them to the edge, but some of the smaller ones ended up coming out. I tried my best not to get them or myself buried in the mud and fortunately all made it back safely.

Then I went upstream to a pool that is deep and big enough to always produce, and that it did. I caught five out of it, and one was a very nice female.

It is always amazing to hold a brook trout. It is far more amazing to see the conditions that the survive in. These fish weren't just surviving either, but thriving. I saw hundreds of fish today, everything from juveniles to ten inchers. I know there are some 12-14 inchers in the third stream, but they probably spooked before I was even close enough to see the water they were in.