12x Tippet, Killer Trees, and a Big Wild Brook Trout

I got some 12x in a bunch of free fly tying crap and tackle. It was really clear mono tying thread, but it was essentially the same as normal 12x. I tested it. Broke at about the same weight, .3 of a pound. I decided to go catch some brookies on it. Why? Just to say that I've caught fish on 12x.

The sun came out every now and then and made the water sparkle. I found very quickly that I had to relearn small stream fishing in order to use super light tippet. If I didn't carefully set up my shots, I lost flies. After a little while I found that I was wasting less time pulling flies out of branches. I don't think I would have caught any less fish if I had used a heavier tippet, but untangling line from branches is always annoying.

Too much to swallow.

 I noticed that the fish had their normal huge potbellies on. Of course the massive amount of food that ended up in the river after the rain helped, and one fish that I caught had a mouth full of earth worms, caddis, and crane fly larva. It was eating so much it didn't even have room and was just holding stuff in it's mouth, and yet it still nailed my fly!

There is a section of the stream that has two channels, separated by an island like piece of land about a quarter mile in area. For the first two years I fished this stream the east channel was the bulk of the stream and the west channel only had flow after a heavy rain. This winter was very rough on trees though, and one fell right were the stems diverge and now the west stem is the one that carries all the water. I fished a bit but I don't think the brookies have taken it over yet. It was certainly cool to see the stream re-shaping the gravel beds and clearing away the mud.

After that I decided to take on a challenge. There is a stretch of water lower down on the stream that is as brushed in as any piece of stream I have ever seen. I have hiked all around that area trying to find a way in, but the prickers and vines seemed to be far too thick to push through. Today I was wearing jeans instead of waders, so I decided that I might as well get myself torn apart. I figured that the brook trout in that stretch had probably never seen anything with a hook in it. It was tough. I belly crawled through fox trails, high stepped over branches with 1 inch thorns, and stopped only to pull out the many thorns collecting in my pants.

I found two nice pools that had some casting room. The first gave up this beautiful specimen, which I thought was going to be the big one of the day:

In a nice run I had a take from a solid fish on the Ausable Ugly. On the way back through I put the Edson Tiger through that pool and a beast came up for it. After a tricky battle I brought an old hen to hand, a stunning specimen that has likely lived in this stream for as long as I have lived in this state! I placed it next to my rod handle and measured that when I got home. It was a ten incher. I think I have caught more really big wild brook trout so far this year than I did all last year... she is my 8th ten+ this year!