March of the Stoneflies

I went to visit a section of stream that has been on my map for a long time. There definitely used to be brook trout their, and some must have been sizable. I had to fish it eventually. The only thing that was keeping me... I don't have a reason.

The stream was gorgeous and ice free, but I caught nothing and the only fish I saw were fallfish. This time of year the sit over light colored gravel in the sun, usually in only a few inches of water. When they act like this, these normally greedy fish thumb their noses and slink away when a fly drifts in front of them.

By far the coolest part of fishing small streams during the winter are needle flies... tiny stoneflies that crawl out onto the snow to emerge. I once found a nymph 50 yards from the stream and still crawling, and the adults even further. These bugs were out in mass today, with as many as 30 on each snow covered rock. The ground was a hive of activity. Look closely or you might miss it...