Finding Brookie Streams ..

[lv2nymph]

Swattie87 wrote:

lv2nymph wrote:
My wife thought I was nuts for doing this but I know someone on here will appreciate this, I took a gazetteer cut all the pages out highlighted the above lists in yellow and blue and laminated it, made a whole map of the state and hung it on the wall of my fishing room. My father in law calls it the "fishing war room".It was a winter project some time ago, it was a lot of work but hey it's done now...

Dude, that's BA! In my gazatteer any stream I (or any of my fishing partners) catch a wild trout in I highlight in blue. That, along with my folders of fishing pictures (one for each stream) is my historical fishing log. One of the most satisfying feelings I get from wild trout fishing is exploring and adding another line on the map and another stream folder on my computer. There's a few where I had to draw the stream on the map as they were too small to even be on there! I love it when an area I explore starts to get filled in with blue lines.

I like what you're doing with the wild trout caught record that's a good idea. Too small to be on the map, you are going deep! I'd like to go on one of those trips.

 

[Chaz]

Quebec Run is tough Jack, but it's worth it. The stream it flows into is also decent. Both have green drakes in May.
I got down there one day after work with Don D and we were having a good time catching brookies on drakes, when a thunderstorm came through and put everything down. After the storm nothing else happened, but it was fun, and we walked out in the dark.

 

[pcray1231]

While I do reference the class A list, I generally don't use it as my "core" list. Many of my favorites are NOT class A. Especially when talking smallish, freestone brookie streams.

A couple of reasons:

1. These populations swing wildly, and they aren't sampled by the PFBC all that often. So a snapshot of what it was like in 1980 or something is hardly a good predictor of what it's like today.

2. When they are sampled, the whole thing may not be sampled. If they shocked the area down by the road, that's fine, but I'm probably fishing a mile in or so and it's less likely to have been sampled.

3. How it rates in a "class" can be inversely proportional to the agressiveness of the fish. Class A streams tend to be more fertile, and the fish pickier. With the standard tactics for brookie streams, you're relying on aggressiveness, so more fish to catch doesn't equate with more fish caught.

4. How it rates in "class" can have more to do with the structure than the number of fish seeing your fly. You don't fish the unproductive looking water anyway. They rate it by biomass per surface area, not biomass per volume of flow. Narrow, deep streams have an advantage, and will be rated higher than a stream carrying the same amount of water, with the same amount of fish, that's a little wider and shallower. Also, some streams have ok holes every few feet, and others have good holes every 200 feet. But having more "walk past" water doesn't lower your total much, streams with more fish per "pool" fish better, even if pools are farther apart. The goal is number of fish seeing your fly per cast.

Anything on the wilderness list is generally pretty good, even if it's class B or C. There's lots of other good ones though. The streams with natural reproduction list is my "base" list. Then narrow down the best you can with other factors. Higher gradient is generally better. Farther from roads is generally better. Sometimes you hit on a little geology, i.e. the streams in a drainage originating from the south may be worse or better than those originating from the north. Then you look up geologic maps and determine what rock formations may cause this effect, and extrapolate.

 

[pcray1231]

Bottom line, is that you become a map geek. This one's my favorite:

http://maps.psiee.psu.edu/preview/map.ashx?layer=980

 

[k-bob]

Yeah map time... I spend enough map time, with marked up paths, etc.. One guy says that before I go brookie fishing it looks like I am preparing "bombing runs"

And you can copy the GPS coords from that nat repro list right in to google earth...

 

[The_Sasquatch]

pcray1231 wrote:
Bottom line, is that you become a map geek. This one's my favorite:

http://maps.psiee.psu.edu/preview/map.ashx?layer=980

TS;DR

 

[troutbert]

pcray1231 wrote:
Bottom line, is that you become a map geek. This one's my favorite:

http://maps.psiee.psu.edu/preview/map.ashx?layer=980

That's a very cool map. But I don't see a scale. Has anyone figured out a way to display a scale of miles?

 

[Chaz]

Great map, so many streams so little time!

 

[geebee]

great map.

i just found two streams that only show up on the very last magnification.

i suspected they were there but didn't know for sure.

thanks. ;-)

 

[Stagger_Lee]

So I did a lil research with the links some of you guys sent and realized I'm going to take a mapography 101 @ my local community college :lol: Have an idea where some of the streams on the maps are but have to figure out how to locate the exact GPS (lat/logitude) coordinates.

That said .. on my own research did a lil research on line and found a few creeks online and a way to find access points and parking. Looks like I'm going to need to invest in some orange during hunting season :-o

 

[Foxgap239]

Stagger_Lee wrote:
That said .. on my own research did a lil research on line and found a few creeks online and a way to find access points and parking. Looks like I'm going to need to invest in some orange during hunting season :-o

I can tell you where to but a really cool orange knit hat.

 

[stevehalupka]

go to class a section on pfbc site as jackie-boy said

look at said stream on delorme atlas & find access road

mapquest access road from your driveway

take camera w. you, especially if a friend accompanies so you can get pics of the chest slams and high 5's.

on a serious note: when pulling 6'' wild dink in, do not even beach the fish.. simply bring to your feet w. rod, turn barbless fly w.o touching the dink, fish swims away.

Also, highly recommend a small rod, even though I am not cool enough to have mine built by a Paff member *tears*

 

[pcray1231]

I took a gazetteer cut all the pages out highlighted the above lists in yellow and blue and laminated it, made a whole map of the state and hung it on the wall of my fishing room.

FANTASTIC idea. If I ever get my fishing room back I'll have to do this.

 

[docsab]

I appreciate all the great info guys. Now with the basics of FF down, I have been wanting to expand my fishing horizons as well as being a little more adventurous. Now I at least have an outline of how to go about finding a few gems of my own.

Come spring, keep me in mind if any of you guys need someone to come along to capture the "chest slams and hi 5's"

 

[csoult]

Just remember that doing this kind of fishing can be extremely frustrating. In the beginning you will spend more time getting your line out of the trees than you do fishing. It will get better though but it will never go away.

 

[Swattie87]

+1 to what csoult said. It's a different kind of fishing...the fish are fairly easy to catch...once you get the fly in front of them without spooking them. Therein lies the hard part. You take your time scouting out the hole, getting into position, and then try to negotiate out that extra 6 inches of line to get all the way up to the head of the pool and then tug...you get caught on your backcast. You have to stand up to get your fly down and end up spooking the pool anyway. If it's a really good looking hole and I get a fly stuck in a spot where I think I can break if off without spooking the pool, but retrieving it would...I break it off, retie and fish the pool, and then retrieve it later.

Another point...while the methods described for locating streams in this thread will without a doubt put you on to some gems, it will also lead you to some duds too. Don't be discouraged...the exploring and seeing what's around the next corner or above the next waterfall is the fun in this kind of fishing. Truth be told, most streams you'll come across on the lists fall somewhere in between dud and gem, and most of those will harbor enough fish to keep you entertained.

 

[pcray1231]

In the beginning you will spend more time getting your line out of the trees than you do fishing. It will get better though but it will never go away.

Sometimes I think it gets worse! I mean, YOU get better.

But as you get better, you try tighter streams, tighter holes that you woulda walked by before, or you try to reach that pool from another 5 feet back. So you spend just as much time in trees, you just get there by doing more difficult casts! lol.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Per spooking ... I read, not sure here or in an article, that native brookies will get very spooked by the person but not by the line/fly splashing the H20 if your presentation is not the best. Is that true?

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Yes.

Dude if I can catch brookies, anyone can.

 

[csoult]

The_Sasquatch wrote:
Yes.

Dude if I can catch brookies, anyone can.

He is a bull in a china shop. :-D