Monday, June 20, 2016

A Few Nice Small Stream Trout

I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to fish recently, mainly due to time spent recovering from Lyme disease (check for ticks!). I did get out in the rain for a few hours last week though, and the fish were cooperating.


Massachusetts Small Stream wild brook and brown trout fly fishing


I started fishing at a pool just upstream of the road. I usually fish this pool first, and I almost always get a hit. This is mainly a brook trout stream, but there are a few browns around, especially in this section. I let a small wooly bugger drift downstream, and just as it passed under some overhanging branches I saw a wake and felt a strong tug. The fight was tough in such close quarters, but I was able to land this beautiful 10” brown.

Massachusetts small stream wild brown trout


Later I met up with Geoff, and we started working downstream as the rain began to fall. We found a few small brookies, but the action was slow, so we decided to drive downstream to a different access point.
massachusetts small stream wild brook trout

Near the head of a now-drained mill pond a nice brook trout slammed my foam hopper. Geoff got this short gif of the release:


massachusetts small stream wild brook trout

We decided to bushwhack upstream through some nearly impassable terrain, an area in which the stream completely disappears under bushes for several stretches. After working our way through the swamp we found ourselves at a small beaver pond. Geoff skittered a caddis across the surface and it was quickly smashed by a beautiful 10” brookie.

massachusetts small stream wild brook trout
Beaver pond brookie
After that we called it a day, satisfied having caught some nice-sized fish.