Even More Small Stream Monsters

This has been the year of the small stream monsters for me. I've caught more wild trout between 14 and 22 inches from small CT freestone streams this year than any prior year. Two wetter than average years in a row resulted in ideal conditions for some of the older fish in the streams to grow more rapidly than normal. That, combined with a number of discoveries I made, lead to me getting onto lots of exceptional small stream browns and some excellent brookies as well. And although we transitioned into a bit of a drought this fall, some windows have opened after the passage of storms that have produced more excellent fish. On one recent outing I had wanted to fish a much bigger stream that I haven't been able to since spring, but found it much too high and a torrent of leaves and debris. My plan B was good one, but the day wasn't done throwing punches. The prior evening I'd been mousing for wild brook trout and whacked the tip of my 5wt, the only rod I was carrying, against the top of a culvert while attempting to cast under it. It didn't break then, it broke while I was rigging up. I popped off the last inch and a quarter of the tip. Without a back up rod, and being many miles from home, this might convince someone else to call it a day. I'm not one to let that kind of thing stop me though. I spliced the tip with gorilla tape and continued with what I had intended. And I got a gorgeous some-teen inch wild brown within the first ten minutes. 

Confidence bolstered I continued fishing with no more major mishaps or slowdowns. The conditions were ideal for streamer fishing, and I never had to change off of the white marabou muddler style streamer I started out with.

It wasn't much more than an hour into the outing that I found the biggest of the day, a drop dead gorgeous female who had clearly made it away from a close encounter with a large bird of prey. She was a gem, another real small water monster. Fish like this don't come easy in CT. It takes work to find them and almost as much to know how to approach, fool, and land them. I've said it before and I will say it again: there is no shortcut. Hard work, lots of time on the water, and good mentors are priceless.

A little ways upstream I encountered another healthy female specimen. This fish wasn't nearly as long but had girth to compensate. I'm aure she's just chock full of eggs.

Though I didn't get another fish over a foot long, I hooked a couple, and some of the fish I didn't lose made up for size with uniqueness. Check out this hunchback beauty.

And the fiery adipose on this lean and mean hen.

That wild trout can make it in these sort of small urban and suburban streams no longer surprises me like it does some people, but it will never stop impressing me. No, nature didn't intend there to be brown trout here. We put them here, and now we unintentionally compromise the places we put them. In spite of that, they power through it. These fish are tougher than we are often led to believe. That isn't an excuse to continue damaging the streams they live in, that needs to stop. But it's good to know they, as well as many other non-native and native species alike can take a beating and persevere.
Until next time.

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

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