Summer's Trout

 I've fished some streams over the last week. All very different. One high gradient with a few waterfalls and bedrock bottom. One low gradient with long slow glides and a few deep bends. One with tons of classic pocket water. And one big one whose waters are drawn from a huge deep reservoir.

Though each of these streams looks and fishes differently, they all have one particular thing in common: wild brook trout reside in their waters. In the thralls of summer brook trout never fail to save the day when browns and rainbows refuse to.

Brook trout, be they in water big or small, slow or swift, anywhere I have fished to them, love the Ausable Bomber. The lovely girl above took a bomber being stripped quickly downstream a deep flat pool just before dark. The same technique duped a larger male a couple casts later. Unfortunately I wasn't able to bring him to hand.

Mike Carl and I fished together this morning, and conditions were perfect for fishing being streamers. Something was off for me though. I missed fish after fish after fish. They weren't love taps either, many of these fish visibly fully engulfed the streamer, some hitting so hard the rod jolted. I must have missed four browns over 20 inches in length, a couple of them more than once. Some days I just can't seal the deal.

To make up for it, while tromping up a side channel I spotted a splashy rise at the edge. I put my big royal stimulator on his plated and he munched it up greedily. It was a handsome wild brookie, one of the better I've landed in this river.

Despite missing numerous fish and some exceptionally monsterous ones, I did manage a "Grand Slam" of sorts with a brookie, some browns on the streamer, and a rainbow and a salmon parr on a black caddis.

July is just about over. I'm OK with that. It has never been a favorite month. Here's hoping that August will bring big stripers, carp galore, and maybe a few of the browns I encountered this morning brought to hand. I'm sure some new species will be checked off by the end of August.