Yesterday's forecast called for rain and temps in the low 50s. At this time of year temperatures in that range are guaranteed to spark some feeding activity, so I decided to head to one of my favorite small streams.
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| Fog on the walk to the stream |
The temperature never came close to 50, but luckily for me no one told the trout...
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| Back to the stream to eat another day |
I went with my go to winter strategy for this stream - swinging a wooly bugger downstream next to the many undercut banks. After a couple of bumps I felt a savage strike. Soon after this gorgeous brown was in my hand. I love yellow browns like this – browns that are actually brown are nice too, but the colors just don't compare.
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| First fish of 2015 |
The bite usually drops off around 3 in the winter, so at that point I began the hike back to my car. But before I could get there, something caught my eye in a brushy section of stream I usually skip. There I saw a small fallen tree which had caused some scouring, creating a deep pool surrounded by brush – the perfect winter hiding spot for a big trout.
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| The lair... |
I couldn't cast to this pool, so I clawed my way through the thorny brush until I reached a clear spot 30 feet upstream, pausing only to gently extract some blackberry thorns from my skin. I let my wooly bugger go in the current and stripped out line until I could see the end of my fly line hovering about 5 feet upstream of the tree.
As I began to slowly strip in the fly, I heard a splash and felt a bump on my line. I tried to set the hook, but I was too late. I was worried I had spooked the fish, but I decided to give it another shot. I let the fly drift once more, and as I stripped it in I was greeted with a vicious strike. I watched as a large brown shot out of the water from below and frantically stripped to keep a tight line. The large tippet I was using at the time allowed me to quickly strip the fish into a more open spot and get her in the net.
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| King (or more likely queen) of the stream |
This 10" wild brown is my biggest ever from this stream. What a way to start the new year.
