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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

Beaver pond brookie

After that we called it a day, satisfied having caught some nice-sized fish.

Escaping the Heat on a Salter Stream

Rhododendrons are blooming

I spent the weekend visiting family in southeastern MA, and I was lucky enough to do a little sea run brook trout fishing while I was there.

Dawn on the stream

Yesterday I met up with Geoff and his friend Justin, a member of the Sea Run Brook Trout Coalition. While temperatures were in the 90s inland, the high on the coast was in the upper 70s. The stream we fished was freezing, as it's fed by springs which keep temperatures cool all season long.

We started near the head of the tide and were into fish right away swinging small streamers downstream. The first few fish were in the 6-7" range, which is respectable in most wild brook trout streams, but somewhat small for this stream. Justin told us that several fat 13-14" trout were found in a recent electroshocking survey. 

Later we walked upstream to the last trail access point and fished back downstream. In this stretch we starting hooking into some nicer fish. I caught this ~10" brookie in the first pool we entered. He came out from under a root wad and smashed my streamer.

As we moved down we all got into fish, landing a few each and hooking many more. The average size in this stretch was probably 8".

This morning I had a couple hours to fish before I needed to leave for home. I woke up with the sun, hitting the road at 5:40  and arriving at the stream around 6:00. As I pulled in to the parking lot I saw a group of teenagers loading up two cars with music equipment, including a guitar and a banjo. They left as I was rigging up my rod, so I'm unsure what I stumbled upon. Maybe they were shooting a folk music video at sunrise? I guess I'll never know. 

The fishing turned out to be great. I got my first fish in a riffle near the road a few minutes after arriving. I moved upstream and began fishing down, hooking into several nice trout. 

After that I moved up to farthest access point to work my way down the same stretch we fished the day before. In the first pool I hooked what I believe was the same 10" fish from yesterday, but I wasn't able to get a photo to compare patterns. 

I hooked into several more nice fish, with the highlight of the day being this beautifully-colored 11-12" brookie. He hit three times as I drifted the fly past the undercut bank he must call home. Each time I thought he would spook, but fortunately I was able to land him on the third. I finished up around 8:30, leaving before anyone else had arrived. 

Western MA Blue Lines

On Wednesday I took a trip out to the Deerfield with Aaron. I love fishing in Western MA. There's something special about the rolling hills of the Berkshires. The White Mountains are rugged and beautiful, but the Berkshires have their own charm.

We started out fishing the upper Deerfield (above Fife Brook), but didn't have much luck. We saw a couple of fish rising, and a few fry swimming in the shallows, but we weren't able to hook anything.

To finish the day we decided to move down the watershed to fish a small tributary. I knew this stream, like every other small mountain stream in the area, would have brook trout, but I'd also heard there might be a few wild rainbows around. This stream is one valley over from another stream where I caught wild rainbows last year, and the geology in area is favorable to rainbows.

Unfortunately we didn't find any, but there were plenty of brookies. The stream was classic brook trout habitat, with tons of fallen trees and plunge pools. There were also some cool narrow gorges formed by the bedrock in the area.

Wild Brookies and Browns in Western MA

Yesterday I took a trip to one of my favorite streams. It originates in the hills to the west of the Quabbin reservoir before eventually working its way down to the Connecticut river. This stream holds both wild brook and brown trout, including some large specimens of each, and is stocked in the lower sections.

I started out in a meandering meadow stretch full of woody debris and deep pools. I decided to start out with an Elk Hair Caddis, which produced as usual. As I moved upstream I caught small brookies and browns in nearly every pool.

Can you spot the trout?

One of the best spots of the day was this pool below a small beaver dam. I saw some fish rising, so I worked my way out to a gravel bar just downstream to make a cast. I pulled 3 or 4 brookies out before the action stopped.

The Beaver Pool

Later I moved downstream to an area dominated by wild browns. The water in this stretch was low for this time of year, but it was still cold. In the first big pool I saw some rises, but I was using a wooly bugger. I decided to cast the bugger to them anyway, and I got a take. I landed this stocked brookie pretty easily - probably because he only had half a tail!

A little bit farther upstream there's a deep channel underneath a footbridge. I found this nice wild brown there and he put up the best fight of the day.

Bushwhacking for a Big Brookie

Yesterday I decided to explore the lower stretches of a stream I've fished once. The upper section has some nice brook trout, but it runs through people's backyards, so I didn't love fishing there. The lower section of the stream is within the floodplain of a large river, so it meanders slowly, with lots of deep bends and a few small beaver ponds.

I figured this would be great habitat for some big brook or brown trout, the only problem was getting there. There are no formal public access points, but I found a place on the side of nearby road where I could park without bothering anyone. There's no trail, so I started bushwhacking through the woods. At first it was easy walking, but as I got closer to the stream things got tougher. I worked my way through poison ivy, stinging nettles (my arch-nemesis), and seemingly every thorny plant in existence, but I finally made it to the stream.

It didn't look like trout water at all, but it was plenty cold, probably thanks to springs arising from the nearby aquifer. These were tough conditions for fishing - the banks were high and the water dead calm, so it was hard to approach without spooking any fish.

After spooking many fish, including a brook trout of at least 10", I came upon a deep, shaded bend. Here I could present my fly without the fish darting. On my first cast a chub tried to grab my bugger, but I didn't hook it. I tried again, and this time something much larger emerged from the deep. I knew instantly it was a trout, and the fight was on. I fell down the bank into the water during the fight, but I was still able to net this beautiful brookie.

That was the only good-sized fish of the day, but it was totally worth the trip.

Brook Trout and a Broken Rod

Today I spent a few hours on a stream in Central MA. I fished this stream for the first time this past winter, so I was excited to see how it fishes in warmer weather.

Mt. Wachusett

I arrived and found the water level low, but quite cold, probably somewhere in the 50s. For now the trout are ok, but if we don't get some rain soon the temperatures could start rising fast.

The low water made fishing a little tricky. I had to focus on stealth because most of the trout were holding in shallow water. Fortunately the gradient of this stream is somewhat steep, and the fast-moving water helped mask my movement.

I saw some trout rising under the road bridge where I entered the stream. I put my elk hair caddis near one of the rises and soon had the first, and biggest, fish of the day on the line, a brook trout around 8". He unfortunately didn't want to be photographed.

I decided to walk downstream for a bit and then fish back up to the bridge. Most of this stretch was skinny pocket water, but I was able to find quite a few deeper pockets with willing fish.

About halfway through this stretch tragedy struck - during an attempt to free my fly from a tree, I smacked the rod tip into a rock, and the first ~2" snapped off. I've heard of people fishing without their rod tip, so I decided to give it a shot. It actually casted quite well and I was able to land several more fish with the broken rod.

Echo has a lifetime warranty which will allow me to get the rod fixed for $35, and I will take advantage of that, but I want to use the rod on Saturday, when I'll be traveling to a remote pond in the White Mountains. I read online that the tip top guide can be removed and replaced onto the broken rod, so I gave it a shot. A lighter, some sandpaper, and a little super glue later, and my rod is fully functional. I took it out for some backyard casting practice and I couldn't tell the difference.

A finished repair