Spring Creek Brookies

This culvert pool gave up 10+ fish on the first day

This week I took two trips to a stream in southern New Hampshire. It's a small stream, averaging 5-10 feet wide, but a significant portion of its flow comes from springs. Unlike most small streams in this area, the stream bed is covered with aquatic plants - it looks more like a salter stream on the Cape than a New Hampshire stream.

On the first trip I fished for a couple hours in the middle of the day, just after a rainstorm. The water was slightly stained, which turned out to be a huge benefit. There are a bunch of 4+ foot deep pools, and in those spots the stain prevented me from seeing the bottom, and therefore prevented the trout from seeing me.

I started out drifting a small wooly bugger through a deep pool below the road. On nearly every cast I felt a strike, usually coming just as the fly started to disappear into the murk. This continued to work for 5-10 fish in every pool. I was amazed that the fighting trout didn't spook the others, but I guess they aren't alarmed by other trout thrashing if they can't see an angler. I ended up fishing only 3 pools that day, but caught at least 20 trout and had takes from many more.

On the second trip conditions were a bit different. The water was lower and much clearer. No longer did I have the luxury of walking right up to every pool without spooking the fish. The day started out well, with a nicely-sized brook trout taking my humpy in the first pool. Unfortunately the fish were much spookier this time, and that was the only fish from that pool. I moved downstream, picking up a fish or two in each pool, but not nearing the same level of action as the first trip.

Biggest of the two days - caught on a size 12 humpy

Wild brook trout and wild geraniums

Things changed when I reached a nice bend pool near a beaver dam. Unlike the other pools, the fish kept hitting, cast after cast. I landed at least 10 fish, including three over 8 inches. The fish never stopped hitting, but I hooked a branch above the pool while trying to dodge a bee buzzing by my head, so I had to wade through the pool.

This bend pool was my honey hole on Day 2 - note the aquatic plants 

The number of fish in this stream is insane - I saw well over 100 fish in the less than 1/4 mile I fished, and that's just the 5"+ adult fish. When you factor in the young of the year, which usually outnumber adult fish in trout streams, the trout density of this stream must be well over 1000 fish per mile.