Frost and Dry Fly Brook Trout

Yesterday I met up with Kirk and Alan to show them a new stream. It was going to be a lovely day, no clouds and very little wind and warming up quickly. When we got to the parking area we were greeted by some of the most amazing frost I have ever seen.

The stream we were about to fish is one of numerous low gradient, spring fed streams in the area. Those springs keep the water just a bit warmer and help keep the ice off the water. That, combined with the massive population of brook trout in many of these stream, lead to excellent fishing when the freestone streams aren't fishing very well.

The night before I had told Kirk to bring dry flies. The fish in this stream are very surface oriented. What I wasn't expecting was that dry flies ended up being the most productive method all day! Out of the three of us, Alan caught the most fish (no surprise there) and most of those were on caddis and Stimulators. I myself used Stimulators and a Puterbaugh Caddis, fishing primarily downstream. The brook trout were stacked up in certain pools and runs, as well as deeper riffles. It was not unlikely to catch five or more out of the same spot.

This male was my best of the day, ad isn't he dressed to impress? He ate a Royal Stimulator skated at the head of a pool.

We all caught a lot of fish in the morning, often returning to the same pools over and over. After a while we decided to move, which turned out to be a bad decision. Kirk and I tried a few spots without much luck.

Sometimes you can't finish the day with a bang, but with a dry fly day like we had, in December, with a couple of good friends, how can you complain?