Saturday, April 25, 2015

Trip Report: No Big Fishies!

This isn't where I fished today but wanted to post this picture because I think its purdy.
Today I got up early and decided to beat the crowd to a heavily pressured stream that runs around 20 minutes from home. The crowd beat me. I talked to a few fellas who must've got there around sun up on my way deeper into the Driftless Back-country. They all reported slow fishing. After a decent walk I began tossing the 'ol Pink Squirrel of Prey, plying the water to find where the trouts were hiding. (kind of like Elmer Fudd searching for a wabbit, only without a gun or wabbit)
I found this neat spring on my way in so I took this neat picture! The home spun 3wt cast well despite the heavy winds and the fish came in with consistency.
 The fish on the left was the biggest fish of the day. I found a lot of good water but the bigguns just weren't having it.
 I caught about a dozen of these average sized fish before tying into a bunch of small brookies. The first few fell for the Pink Squirrel of Prey but the majority were landed on a sz 20 BWO emerger.
 I just love catching brookies. In Montana I had a secret brookie stream that held tons of big brookies. It was my go to spot for when I wanted to fill the freezer. I don't usually keep trout but brookies are not native to Montana and are somewhat responsible for the decline in Cutthroat and Bull Trout which are native to Montana. Brookies often outcompete with Cutthroats for food and the best lies in the stream while Bull Trout are voracious feeders, but can interbreed with Brookies which can/does "dilute" the genetics of Bullies.
None of the Brookies caught today were any larger than these guys. It was fun to get out and catch 'em in the wind but hopefully tomorrow brings calm breezes and bigger trout.

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