Exploring in Search of Wild Trout

Today RI Brook Trout and I fished a number of different streams, a few of which were new ones with the possibility of being brook trout habitats. One was a stream that is known to hold big brown, a place were I occasionally have luck, and another the special spring creek I discovered a month ago. The last place was a good spot form smallmouth and redbreast sunfish.

The first stream keeps good flows year round, but it is one of the most hit or miss stream I have ever fished. Either its on or its off, and today it was off. I hooked and lost one brown on a streamer and RI caught some sunfish, but we quickly moved on to a distant valley in which lies the best brook trout stream I have ever seen in CT.

We both caught wild brook trout on the special stream. It was my best trip here yet, and I even had a chance at one of the really big ones, a fat brooky probably one foot in length. This stream requires a downstream presentation, and as I sneaked up on one good hole I spotted a few big brookies shifting around and nipping at drifting bugs. I put my Prince Nymph over the sweat spot and the biggest one came up and nailed it. With little room to set the hook, I failed to hook the fish on it's first three takes. On the forth I got some leverage and the brightest colored living thing I have ever seen went airborne before throwing the hook. That image will be burned into my mind until I catch one of this stream's Moby Dicks. I did manage to get some good fish though, including my biggest so far from this stream. The technique that worked best was drifting a small nymph or wet past the numerous forms of structure that these wild gems live in. Grass, watercress, woody debris, and bushes prevent the success of many other techniques, small dries won't bring up the big fish, and the clarity and calmness of the water mean big dries are likely to spook fish. But twitch a subsurface pattern past the grass and a hungry beast is liable to dart out and nail it.  

The fish this stream has are some of the prettiest I have ever seen, with bright red tails and fins, extremely vibrant spots, and blue mouthes.

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After exploring more of the secret river that I hadn't looked at yet we went to scout out some new spots. Neither that we went to looked like they would be all that good...

   

So we went after smallmouth. We both caught some good bass and sunfish on dries, and RI landed one fairly nice one on an Ausable Bomber. 

Today was a breath of fresh air compared to yesterday. Not spectacular, but some gorgeous fish were caught and some amazing places were visited. As far as this week's fishing goes, I'm planning on doing some carping, and over the weekend some bluefish action is predicted, so be ready for some more cool stuff!