It's Not Over Till it's Over

And it sure felt over today. The last ditch efforts of Mark and I to get some large stripers have not been all that successful. Today a progressively deteriorating forecast forced us to launch in only the most sheltered spots, the tides were ridiculous due to the recent supermoon, and to make things really frustrating there just didn't seen to be any stripers anywhere... not to say we got a complete skunk, I rarely let that happen. But a few smaller hickories just do not = awesome day.

Brook Trout and Tenkara

Yesterday I finally got to fish with another one of my New England blogger friends, Adam Klags. He is a tenkara angler, the traditional fixed line Japanese version of fly fishing. He has fished tenkara where it was meant to be fished, in the mountain streams of Japan, as well as many parts of the U.S. 

Being that I had very little knowledge about tenkara and how it works on a small stream like the ones I fish on a regular basis. There were some circumstances in which the long rod was the perfect tool and some others in which a shorter fly rod like my own would be preferred. It was enjoyable to watch, and Adam also has a pretty solid number of very interesting stories. It was a very fun day on the water.

The first stream we fish is a mystery to me. I've caught browns, rainbows, and brookies here, but never consistently. I was hoping that this time we would get into bigger bookies. Unfortunately we found what I found in the sea run brown trout spot the other day: ugly little stocked browns. That's OK, they were fun to sight fish for. But I have seen some goliath brook trout in this stream and I would have like for one of us to have latched into one of those.

The next stream was going to be more productive in that regard pretty much no matter what... the only catchable fish in it's upper stretches are brookies. For the warmest part of the day we had some pretty decent brook trout fishing. I used primarily dry flies on that stream, and I got some decent natives to come up to the surface for the Ausable Bomber.  

The nicest brookie of the day was a colored up male that came up for my bomber in full out predator mode. The same pool then produced four more beautiful brookies for Adam. It was definitely the highlight of the day's fishing.

We were impressed by the number of redds in this stream. No doubt the population there will have no problem remaining healthy and strong.

We made on last stop but I suspect it had become too late in the day. The sun had fallen and the bite seemed to shut down. I caught one fallfish and a few common shiners, but a few pools we fished should have been holding decent fish and we blanked. We left under the rising super moon... an awesome end to an enjoyable day on some small streams.

Toothy Fish and Mergansers

There is something very satisfying about strip setting a big meaty fly into the toothy mouth of a carnivorous, aggressive fish. This time of year that becomes an effective way of catching most species of large predators from big brown trout to stripers... and somewhere between those are walleye and pickerel, my targets for today. I lost one (a big walleye, high 20 inch range) and landed the other. I was glad to get something viscous and marauding to eat the wiggle tail pike fly, and boy was it a good hit. Just a solid thump. And it wasn't even that big of a pickerel! Size tends not to have anything to do with beauty when it comes to fish and this was fish had that text book chain pattern and beautiful green coloration.

I also managed a small bass and a fairly exceptional white perch. Both are fish I am always happy to catch this late in the year.

The north end of the pond was packed with ducks. There were three flocks; mallards, black ducks, and mergansers. As a photographer I could not miss the opportunity to get some sweet and hard to obtain shots. I did some serious stalking. I muddied my jeans and jacket and had to remove a couple ticks crawling up my left arm getting into position. But I could not get close enough.

Then I got extremely lucky. I spooked the mergansers. As they took off I turned on my camera, grabbed focus and panned into the lower end of the pond. I waited for the ducks to enter frame and I hit the shutter once. What I caught was something stunning.

And with that, good night!

Urban Sea Run Brown Trout Hunting

Yesterday I visited a stretch of river rumored to have some large sea run brown trout, hoping I would find some fall runners. I worked down to the lowest public stretch. I wished I could have gone down even further, and I may try to find a way down there for the spring.

I fished nymphs and streamers predominately and discovered an issue fairly quickly. DEEP stocks this stream with juvenile brown trout and evidently they had just recently done so... I had to work around tons of these little ugly things hoping to find a big wild fish.

I also ran into good numbers of fallfish, including a couple decent sized ones like this guy:

And a good sign for the future: trout redds!

Unfortunately I only caught one trout over 10 inches (just barely) and it was a stocker. I have caught wild browns in this stream before. It drives me batty that more often than not I can't find them.

So the big browns did not show at all. I'm not surprised really. This stream is one of the prettiest ones I fish though, it runs through an incredibly steep valley that makes it seem remote despite the hustle and bustle going on not half a mile away.

Brookies on Bamboo

Little known fact: I actually first started teaching myself to fly cast with a bamboo rod with no guides aside from the last and a silk line tied to that. I stood out in the yard and taught myself how to make perfect tight loops with that short piece of line. And yet, until today, I had never caught a fish on a bamboo rod. I've had one for a month or two, not a very good one but usable after some work, I was just waiting for the right day. 

Today clearly fit the bill. I severely needed to get in my happy place, which is of course any place where wild brook trout live. So packed up the bamboo rod and a box of flies and headed out to some local streams. The first stream has some nice brookies but the numbers have been in decline over the past couple years, so I was happy to get there and see fish had gone to work and there were lots of fish on the redds protecting them. I took the opportunity to just walk and watch. 

After a little while I decided to visit another stream that typically has a later spawn and a better fish population. Those two factors mean I'd have a better shot at finding some fish off the redds. I did. I got a pair of beautiful wild brookies on the Cinburg and the bamboo rod. It felt magical.

That makes 21 months of trout on dry flies. Let's see how far I can take this streak...