Small Streams in Mid Spring

Small stream water temperatures have been in the high 50's and low 60's lately in these parts, which for my tastes is about as good as it gets. These water temperatures in mid spring result is great fishing with the two most exciting ways I can think of to fish for small stream wild trout: big dry flies and lightly weighted streamers. I utilized both two days ago targeting both brown trout in my home river and brookies in a very tiny tributary. It was a blast.

The first wild brown of the day was an exceptional specimen of about 12 inches. I cast my salmon parr streamer into a foam covered back eddy and it was promptly hammered. This fish did not want to come up, plastering itself to the bottom and slowly swimming upstream in very heavy current. I was thrilled when it finally did come up, what a gorgeous fish!

After a little while I changed to a stimulator, hoping to maybe entice a wild brook trout or two. I didn't, but the browns took to it very well.

As it got later hatch activity diminished but the spinners stayed in the trees. I wasn't getting the action I wanted. So I switched back to a streamer. In the first run I worked it through I got an incredible acrobatic take followed by a blistering downstream run by what turned out to be the fish of the day. 

I caught a few more wild browns before I decided it was time to go visit the tributary to see how it's miraculous wild brookies were doing. I say miraculous, because of all the wild trout streams I have fished in CT, this is the smallest. It is also heavily segmented by plunges and falls. It blew my mind when I first saw fish in there.

I caught two on this visit, but for this water they were real trophies.