Bright brookie

[Troy]

Tiogadog wrote:
One of the many from a Shenandoah National Park stream this weekend. The stream in question is a well known tributary to an even more well known stream. I don't fish for brook trout as often as I should. Every time I go I wonder why I don't do it more often.

I'm heading there next Thursday for three days of fishing. This will be my fourth time there. I love it. I am beat to hell when the day is done, but it is well worth it. I hike down from Skyline Drive instead of accessing it from the bottom. It is more of an adventure that way in my eyes. I am trying three new streams this year. One is really off the beaten path with no trail accessibility. Can't wait.

 

[NJTroutbum]

Several years ago I spent a day fishing the Dry. I've been itching to get back since.

 

[Tiogadog]

I'm heading there next Thursday for three days of fishing. This will be my fourth time there. I love it. I am beat to hell when the day is done, but it is well worth it. I hike down from Skyline Drive instead of accessing it from the bottom. It is more of an adventure that way in my eyes. I am trying three new streams this year. One is really off the beaten path with no trail accessibility. Can't wait.

The streams are in terrific shape right now. We have had plenty of precipitation this winter, though mostly rain. The temperatures are supposed to cool off this weekend but should rebound nicely by the middle of next week. Good luck. The fishing should be fantastic.

 

[Troy]

Thanks Tioga Dog! Good to hear about the conditions. I thought they should be good.

 

[Troy]

http://www.paflyfish.com/modules/xforum/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1173&forum=2&post_id=9070#forumpost9070

Here is a story of our second trip to Shenandoah that I posted here a while ago if anyone is interested.

 

[WILDBROOKIE]

GOOD BRITE COLORS

 

[salmonoid]

I know this is a little bit of an older thread, but when I picked this guy up Opening Day, it reminded me of the OP's fish. This fish came out from under a log on a small unstocked headwater stream, and just crushed a LiteBrite minnow. A nice reward for a 2.5 mile walk from the mouth of that particular stream!

 

[afishinado]

salmonoid wrote:
I know this is a little bit of an older thread, but when I picked this guy up Opening Day, it reminded me of the OP's fish. This fish came out from under a log on a small unstocked headwater stream, and just crushed a LiteBrite minnow. A nice reward for a 2.5 mile walk from the mouth of that particular stream!

^ really nice! Looks like the grandfather of the Kid's fish pictured in the OP.

 

[BradFromPotter]

salmonoid wrote:
I know this is a little bit of an older thread, but when I picked this guy up Opening Day, it reminded me of the OP's fish. This fish came out from under a log on a small unstocked headwater stream, and just crushed a LiteBrite minnow. A nice reward for a 2.5 mile walk from the mouth of that particular stream!

Do you know if the stream you caught this out of has a very good crawfish population? There is a stream up here that the brookies all have that same bright red/orange color most of the time. The stream also has a large population of crawfish.

 

[Swattie87]

Mmmm tasty Gemmies.

Very nice fish sal(monoid). I had an at the feet release on a similar fish a few years ago and still really wish I got a picture of that fish.

 

[salmonoid]

BradFromPotter wrote:
Do you know if the stream you caught this out of has a very good crawfish population? There is a stream up here that the brookies all have that same bright red/orange color most of the time. The stream also has a large population of crawfish.

That I do not know. I've only fished the stream twice. The first time was last fall, and the water was fairly low and I ended up quitting a full mile below where I ended up last weekend (and on that fall trip, I wrote off everything upstream from where I bailed, since it looked like it would be pretty skinny water, even if it had some flow). But there's a reason to always press around another bend - headwaters often have a hole or two that hold the 10" brookie or the 15" brownie and you never find them if you don't fish upstream just another hole.

Will be back in the area of the stream for a full week in July - might employ the kids to do some under rock scouting for crayfish, under the guise of playing in the stream, or environmental education, or something

No other brookies that I caught exhibited the fire belly, though, but they were all < 10" too. The browns were all nicely colored - red adipose and the outline of the tail was blood red on all of them, so there's an ample source of carotenoid somewhere in that system.