Another brookie blast

Still tinkering with a few patterns for these brook trout and managing to get a few quality fish in the process. But I often wonder if I am on the right pattern or if another presentation wouldn’t work better. In fact, no matter how good the fishing is at any given location or day…I am always looking to improve.

Morning started off slow with a heavy chill. The late fall\early winter mornings are now met with frost, frozen puddles and temperatures below freezing. The recent snow had melted for the most part but a few shadowed areas were still frozen. A first few casts, a fish and then battle ice up on the rod tip. As time wore on and the sun rose, the temperature turned the corner on +40 degrees and fishing was more comfortable. The fish kept on coming, which made me worry about the cold less, and less. Funny how lots of fish can lull you into frostbite without a second thought where as no fish will magnify sour conditions to feel downright unbearable.

Halfway through the stretch and I am doing great on both numbers and size…for this water at least. Most of the fish are top of the class and about 12-ish in length. I am working a creature-spin presentation that I use for bass but downsized to 1/16oz. Not something completely off the wall but definitely not what folks or even the fish apparently are used to seeing. Nearly every cast got a bump, flash, follow and a number of go-getting’ bite hard brookies.

By midday the sun was shining through an almost cloudless sky. Wind was only my contention and even that wasn’t too formidable. I caught a few more brooks and tried to make the most out of the photo op. There are very few fish that I would consider ugly and many that are beheld to be very beautiful. Brook trout can be absolutely spectacular when it comes to color pattern and the fins are breathtaking to me at times.

Rounding out the trip I land another solid brute brook that I might have been able to squeeze a 14’er inch mark out of if needed. Not too shabby for this water and one of my better small water brooks. This fish was downright angry and difficult to photo-op. Seeing that it had woke up on the wrong side of the structure this morning I chose to give it a quick picture grab with the one hand hold and a quick release.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.