Step Across

A lot of the small brook trout streams I fish are small enough to jump across in places. By all accounts, small water that many would overlook. Some I could cold step across in places. Still others I could step across almost anywhere I feel like without tearing my britches. This is one such small stream that I fished on Monday. 

Not all of this tiny seasonal streams is able to hold brook trout. The ones that do nearly always hold populations with growth rates so slow that three inch brook trout are of spawning size. It is extremely rare for these tiny watercourses to hold fish over eight inches long.

The beautiful char below is usually a big one in a stream so small you can step across it.

When I hooked the next fish in a pool where two branches of the stream met on my little Crazy Shrimp, it defied a lot of the rules about how big brook trout should be that can survive in a brook of this size. I'm used to having fish here fly past me when I set the hook, this one actually took line. It's not common that I get to encounter one of the oldest and biggest fish in a stream. Every time I do I am not so much excited as mind blown. Sometimes it calls for a short reflection break on a fallen log or boulder, followed by no more fishing for the rest of the outing. Not on the same stream. When a stream gives up it's most spectacular resident , what more do you need from it?