Great day of brookie fishing

[BrooksAndHooks]

Yesterday was many firsts for me. I got out around noon with a packed lunch and ended up to the stream and on the water by around 1-1:30. The temps were in the 60s, and the water was a bit high and fast, but not blown out. I tied on my go-to wet for brookies and approached the stream with caution. I cast out into the first pool from behind a tree and let the fly sink and drift through the pool. It reached the end of the pool and I swing the fly back through slowly and to the surface, and right as it reached the top of the water a wonderful brooke shot out and crushed it! He dove back down underwater and I set the hook. Fought for a few moments in the faster water, but I landed him pretty quickly. Definitely one of my best fish to date. I released him and climbed back to my hiding spot. I pulled two or three more fish from the hole. I moved up stream and had another nail as I swung the fly up. I picked up a half dozen more fish then stopped for lunch and a rest. I got back to it and landed several more in almost every pool I fished, including 5 or 6 from one longer stretch. I got to the top of the section I was fishing around 4:30, and had planned on pulling out by 5, so was getting ready to head back. I had caught 16 fish, and had been thinking in the back of my head I wanted a 20 fish day. My previous best was 17 in an afternoon. I decided to try a few drys on, as I had observed a decent sized brook rising to ants that were falling off a log only 5 feet away. I tied on a small any pattern and tossed it out and let him float by. Nothing. I tried around the pool for a few more minutes, with no action. I said, heck, why not try something bright and a little bigger. I selected a bright pink dry I had in my box, and tossed it out. Moments later a brookied nailed it off the surface! I however missed the hook set. This repeated a few more times, and I decided to remove the larger fly and downsize to smaller fly with similar coloration. I made a cast and it was on. I caught several trout of the pool which I hadn't managed a single fish on the wet. I started walking back towards my jeep, figuring I would fish a few slow holes along the way. I arrived at another stretch that I had not managed a hit on earlier in the day. I had solid action for 15 minutes and ended up pulling 8 more out of that single hole. By the time I had reached the trail head I finished off at 31 fish around 5:45. What a memorable day and fun fishing. I had experience fish taking on drys a few times this late winter on Big Spring, but today was the first day I successfully caught fish with a dry fly. I had seen a few midges and larger flies through the day, but nothing that closely matched what I was throwing. I now plan on tying a few dozen of those flies.

 

[pcray1231]

Very cool.

Yeah, a dry is quite often more effective than anything subsurface for brookies. They're opportunistic. You can fish from further away and thus avoid spooking them better. And many times they just hit them better.

That said, quite often is not the same as always. Generally in winter you gotta go underneath, summer you're better on top, and spring and fall can go either way depending on the circumstances. In spring, though, afternoon gives you more of a shot with the dry. Even in late May a cool morning can be tough.

31 fish in 4-5 hours, not a bad day at all!

 

[Millsertime]

Nice pics. Ants are out already? Must be south of me.

 

[Biggie]

Nice report and fish

 

[Chaz]

Congratulations on a fine day.

 

[BrooksAndHooks]

Thanks guys. Yes I agree, brookies are opportunistic. There hasn't been much hatch activity though which is why I started with a wet, which I know is a producer year round for me. Yes, ants, but not your normal ant. They were winged. Carpenter ants or something. And yes, probably farther south than you, though it is well into the spring and pretty warm all across the state. You guys are still pretty cool up there though I'm sure.

It definitely was a great day, but I would say the last 15 fish in just over an hour on the dry really made it a memorable one.

 

[sarce]

Early spring days like that are the best! Those brookies get really hungry the first few warm days after a long winter, and usually the water is a bit on the high side so they don't spook as easily. Time it right and you can have really great days as you found out.

The fishing sounds kinda similar to what Lutz and I experienced the other weekend. I think we had around 10 or 12 on nymphs in the first 3 hrs and caught a ton in the second 3 hrs on dries to make it to 40 total.

 

[salmonoid]

Any idea what the water temperature was? Going to be trying my hand at some early season wild brown and brookie fishing at the end of the week but am a bit concerned that water temps have not been higher than the mid-40s yet, which might put a damper on things. Water is going to be up where I'm going as well. I hope it means the big browns are out, on the move, and feeding on tasty brookie snacks!

 

[BrooksAndHooks]

Definitely true Chaz. It's a great time of year to fish brookies in early spring. I can't imagine how many I would have ended with if I didn't have somewhere to be that night. I really enjoyed myself for a day after a lot of long hard trips this winter with only 1 or 2 fish some days.

Salmonoid, I do not, I do know it was cold from when I handled a few fish. I would guess low to mid 40s. Actually colder than I expected. We are still getting the final snow melt in this area so that is keeping the water cool. Goodluck on the browns, I visited a Class A two weeks ago and fished some great water but only managed a handful of wild bows and one brown, couldn't get the big boys to come out and play that day. Higher water and still a little cold in that water shed. It's about time for it to heat up though, hopefully you have good fortune!