Early Summer Brookie Fishing

[dc410]

I was coming down out of Central PA today and was hoping to stop and hit the Juniata River for a little smallie action, however, the flow was much more than I like and it was still very off color so I decided against it.

I changed course and decided to hit one of my favorite mountain brook trout streams. I generally don't fish for native brook trout much during the summer and it had been at least two years since I even fished this stretch of stream at all. The stream was in absolute perfect condition today. Good flow, just a bit off color and 60 degrees.

I fished for about an hour and a half covering about a quarter mile of stream and lost count of how many brookies I caught and lost. Every good lie held a fish and they were definitely bigger fish on the average than the last time I fished it. I was fishing with a size 12 stimulator the whole time. Even caught a Rosyside Dace on the size 12 dry fly. I like catching these aggressive little fish because they are an indicator of good water quality. Nice, relaxing little afternoon outing on just a beautiful stretch of water on public land. We sure are very blessed here in PA.

 

[Dave_W]

Beautiful pics.

Trout streams (and not just high elevation brookie streams) are in great shape right now with good flows and cool temps. I was out this evening on a local stocked stream that usually too warm to fish by this time of summer but the water temp was 64 and there were large numbers of stocked trout still active in the stream.

This could turn out to be a great summer for brookie fishing if trends continue.