Killer Kyle
Senior Member
Came down with a case of....not the spotted fever, but the speckled fever. I've had the brook trout blues as of late. I generally stay off the blue lines in the dead of winter like this when the fishing is nearly shut down, but I just couldn't help myself yesterday. We've had a streak of fairly warm days. I spent some time monitoring stream gauges on the rivers lower down, and the water temps have been reasonable. I knew the water would be slightly colder higher up, but I suspected the small wild trout might be perky enough to play. Yesterday, I had time for a short trip, so I strung up the "small stream special", my trusty ol' 6' TFO 2wt, and hit the creek. Made my way straight to the falls, and up and over. I went in with the expectation of not catching a single fish. Expectation management was the plan for the day.
The first fish came almost immediately after I began fishing, and it was the largest of the day. It took a #20 BH WD-40 dropped about 12'' beneath an EHC. I'm guessing it was in the 8" ballpark, and had some sort of lesion on its eye, which is visible in the picture. It seemed otherwise healthy, and was obviously well fed. She had a gut!
Throughout the afternoon, I caught two more, both about equal in size. Maybe something like 6". I lost several that came unhooked, including an itty bitty around 2"-3", and also lost a biggun' that went about 10". It was substantially larger than the biggest one I caught yesterday. Had several missed strikes as well.
All of the fish after the first took, or attempted to take an olive BH Micro Mohair Leech I dropped beneath the EHC.
It wasn't a banner day for numbers, but it was about the best you could expect for a February day on a tiny stream.
I used to stay off these creeks during this time of year, but I believe targeting them during warm streaks like this is perfectly fine. For maybe five years now, and like a fool, I have been enjoying a certain blog online. If you've never come across it, it is called "Small Stream Reflections". I spend all winter reading the author's trip reports. He catches brook trout all winter long, usually multiple times per week on wet flies, nymphs, classic streamers, and occasionally dries as well. Often he is fishing nearly frozen blue lines in New England, and he still catches fish. I have been a fool in relishing his posts, yet not fishing blue lines in the dead of winter for myself. I will not make that mistake any longer, as yesterday proves that one can target these warm streaks and do reasonably well. It's always more than a pleasure to venture "further up, and further in".
All in all, I was very happy with the time I spent on yesterday's thin blue line. It was good medicine for the soul, and I'll be out there soon again. Tight lines, folks!
First fish of the day set the bar high!
Right in the bread basket
Gotta gut
Secret Weapon
A sight for sore eyes
Micro mohair leech
The first fish came almost immediately after I began fishing, and it was the largest of the day. It took a #20 BH WD-40 dropped about 12'' beneath an EHC. I'm guessing it was in the 8" ballpark, and had some sort of lesion on its eye, which is visible in the picture. It seemed otherwise healthy, and was obviously well fed. She had a gut!
Throughout the afternoon, I caught two more, both about equal in size. Maybe something like 6". I lost several that came unhooked, including an itty bitty around 2"-3", and also lost a biggun' that went about 10". It was substantially larger than the biggest one I caught yesterday. Had several missed strikes as well.
All of the fish after the first took, or attempted to take an olive BH Micro Mohair Leech I dropped beneath the EHC.
It wasn't a banner day for numbers, but it was about the best you could expect for a February day on a tiny stream.
I used to stay off these creeks during this time of year, but I believe targeting them during warm streaks like this is perfectly fine. For maybe five years now, and like a fool, I have been enjoying a certain blog online. If you've never come across it, it is called "Small Stream Reflections". I spend all winter reading the author's trip reports. He catches brook trout all winter long, usually multiple times per week on wet flies, nymphs, classic streamers, and occasionally dries as well. Often he is fishing nearly frozen blue lines in New England, and he still catches fish. I have been a fool in relishing his posts, yet not fishing blue lines in the dead of winter for myself. I will not make that mistake any longer, as yesterday proves that one can target these warm streaks and do reasonably well. It's always more than a pleasure to venture "further up, and further in".
All in all, I was very happy with the time I spent on yesterday's thin blue line. It was good medicine for the soul, and I'll be out there soon again. Tight lines, folks!
First fish of the day set the bar high!
Right in the bread basket
Gotta gut
Secret Weapon
A sight for sore eyes
Micro mohair leech
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