Small Mnt Streams

[Dante12]

I have a lot of class A and wild mountain run off streams near me and I want to start fishing them. Most of the streams I see are under 10ft wide and under a foot deep. Where would I begin looking for trout in such a small stream

 

[CathyG]

Plunge pools and pocket water are usually productive. They're basically little pools below mini waterfalls and rocks. This time of year they offer pretty good cover and oxygen (warm water depletes oxygen). As you become more familiar with particular streams and find fish you can transfer that knowledge to less familiar water.

 

[MKern]

Definitely what Cathy stated. Usually the fish are in the deeps spots.

I highly suggest intentionally spooking a few pools. At first to see where the fish are laying. A lot of times, fish will be holding in similar locations up stream too. A long time ago, a friend of mine posted on here that he would take some worms and toss them in the water to see where the fish darted out from as a way of prospecting.

Also with small streams, only cast to a pool a handful of times at most and then move on....either you will catch a fish right away, and if you don't, their isn't a fish there or you already spooked it.

Fishing small streams has a sharp learning curve. You will go from catching a couple of fish at first and within a year you will catch dozens in a trip.

 

[HopBack]

10ft wide is like a river for small mt streams. If you don't see any plunge pools (small waterfalls) then look for some water that is moving a bit and well shaded. Find the biggest rock in the area you are fishing and plunk a green weenie behind it. That should make any trout in the area come out of hiding. :-D

 

[sarce]

Throwing worms in the water or intentionally spooking a pool (in other words walk right up to it or right through it) are both good ideas if you want to get an idea of where fish like to hide in these streams. In fact you don't even need to toss real food in to get them to show themselves. Small pieces of twigs, plant seeds, raspberries, and orange peels are all things I have gotten trout to attempt eating.

If I could sum up small mountain stream fishing in one sentence it would be this: Get a fly on the water before the fish sees you. In a lot of places, the concept really is that simple. The execution can be a little tougher, but that's the fun part!

 

[SteveG]

Don't overlook the area where fast current meets slower water. If it's a fairly fertile stream, sometimes your quality fish will be found there putting the feed bag on.

 

[csoult]

Follow the bubble line this time of year on small streams.

 

[pcray1231]

Generic, high floating dry flies are the way to go in the summer. Size 12-16 Humpies, Wulffs, Stimulators, etc. This is where they're at home. It's what they're made for.

The fish will be aggressive, and take nymphs or dries just as well (in the winter or in really high water you may need to go underneath, but in typical summer flows and temps, it doesn't matter).

The advantage of the dry is that thing about getting a fly to a fish before it sees you. With dries, you can do that from further away, from directly downstream, in very shallow water, float it over or around rocks and sticks, etc. That's the advantage.

 

[dsmith1427]

I started fishing small mountain streams this past year. I had a lot of success fishing an foam ant/zebra midge dry dropper as well as an elk hair/zebra midge dry dropper. I caught most on the dry but I made a cast beneath laurel overhanging the creek and had a nice 12-14 in brown nail the midge.

 

[JackM]

I only have this to post:

 

[jifigz]

Read the water. Just cast to every current seam, behind every log and rock, to every undercut root ball. Finding brookies in small streams is a cinch. Pcray hit the nail on the head with his dry fly recommendations. I really like stimulators and elk hair caddis for Brook trout. My favorite though is a small Chernobyl ant. The action on Brook trout streams is usually fast and furious and you can go through a lot of floatant when you catch a trout every other cast and your fly is all slimed up and soaked. The foam takes that out of the equation and the fish aren't very picky. If you aren't catching a lot of trout, I recommend you find a new stream because there probably isn't a great population in the streams that you are striking out on.

 

[PocketWater]

Practice your bow and arrow casting.

 

[curtrein]

+1 for the infamous green weenie!

 

[pcray1231]

Jack, that one looks pretty big by small stream standards. Inviting nonetheless. Plenty open. Fish the rough tail from that position. Step up to rock left of center, and fish the head!

 

[Six-Gun]

pcray1231 wrote:
Generic, high floating dry flies are the way to go in the summer. Size 12-16 Humpies, Wulffs, Stimulators, etc. This is where they're at home. It's what they're made for.

The fish will be aggressive, and take nymphs or dries just as well (in the winter or in really high water you may need to go underneath, but in typical summer flows and temps, it doesn't matter).

The advantage of the dry is that thing about getting a fly to a fish before it sees you. With dries, you can do that from further away, from directly downstream, in very shallow water, float it over or around rocks and sticks, etc. That's the advantage.

Good info to follow. I should add that dries also allow you to make less of a disturbance all-around than a traditional nymph rig tossed in tiny water.

 

[k-bob]

The Orvis guide to small stream fly fishing by Tom rosenbauer has so many good ideas on finding and catching trout that I won't even start to try to list them!

 

[Volksnurse]

k-bob wrote:
The Orvis guide to small stream fly fishing by Tom rosenbauer has so many good ideas on finding and catching trout that I won't even start to try to list them!

Great boook, and a pretty easy read!

 

[jeremymcon]

In small streams, if I know the stream holds fish, I find it's usually a good idea to cast pretty much anywhere you're planning to wade before you wade there. I can't tell you how many times I've walked through an area I didn't think I needed to cast to, only to spook several fish out of it.